April 03, 2005
My Cup Runneth Over, 1
Dear God,
Now that I've complained, I want to praise. I need to praise.
God on High, thank You so much! Thank You for life! Thanks for the smell of bacon this morning, and the taste of breakfast.
Thanks for the greetings of people at church who know me, who've seen me come to church for four years, and who love me.
Thanks for the (somewhat guilty) pleasure of drawing pictures during church in order to stay awake (and thanks for a wonderful wife to give me that idea). I didn't know that I was any good at art, but I managed a couple of sketches that were a lot better than my usual. There's something fun about that - just making so many little, tiny lines that form themselves into a shape better than one I could create my trying to just draw it. Thanks for the fun of that.
Thanks for the pleasure of serving my wife while she slept by doing some of the chores ... thanks for her pleasure and her happy face (and her kisses!). Thanks for the simple pleasure of cleaning things ... of wiping soap and warm water across a surface and having it wipe the nastiness away, leaving the dish clean and sparkling. Thanks for the grapefruit smell of our dish washing detergent - I've always loved it. Thanks for the delight of simple things today - the smell of clean laundry, the feel of a clean floor under my bare feet, which is its own pleasure! Thanks for the feel of bare feet in the grass and on the pavement, and that winter is over and I can stroll barefoot again.
Thanks for the joy of taking my wife to see a movie as a surprise, and for the fun of a good G-rated film. Thanks for the amazing wonder that is modern film - the way that the picture looks so real ... and the way we humans have learned to act in such a way that we can almost believe that it's real. Thanks for pretty girls and the pleasure it is to see them ... especially the pleasure it is to lay my eyes on the most beautiful one of all ... the woman You gave me.
Thanks for the fun of driving with the windows down and the air blowing through the car. Thanks for the weather today - it was so clear and perfect and gorgeous! I wonder what the weather will be like in Bellingham?
Oh - thanks for the fun of talking with my mother-in-law over the phone today. God, You have me what seems to be an incredibly rare gift - a wonderful mother-in-law. Thanks for her concern for us ... even me. Thanks for the fun of listening to her and Nikki talk together over the phone today.
Thanks for the fun of shopping at a different place, and finding everything we needed (and a little more). Thanks for giving us all the money we need and more ... thanks that we had enough to pay for what we bought today. Thanks that tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and thanks for bringing her gift in on time. Thanks for how it sparkles and shines ... like her eyes will tomorrow, I hope. Thanks for dinner, and the simple pleasure of hot dogs. Thanks for the glorious invention and taste of ketchup, and for the wonderful grill my grandmother and grandfather gave us as a wedding present. Thanks for being able to watch fun movies with my wife.
Thanks for a chance to write. Thanks for this computer, and for the blessing and joy it is to play with it and to write. Thanks for my friends who'll read this (at least, I hope they read this far!) - it means so much to me to have other people listen to me, listen to what I say and what I feel and what I mean. Thanks for their love.
God, You are good. You have been good to me. So very, very, very good to me. You have blessed me exceedingly and wonderfully. My life is blessed and filled with wonderful things. I love You. A lot.
There is more. There is You.
You died for me. You forgave me. You chose me as Your own child. You comfort me. You answer me (sometimes with silence). You love me. You care about me. You've never abandoned me, never forgotten me, never turned Your back on me. Your love has been constant. Your faithfulness has been steady. Your grace has always been there for me. You have always, always, always loved me. You have accepted me. You have dressed me in white.
There is no-one like You. No-one so faithful. Dear God, I worship You, giving You all my praise and adoration, for You alone are worthy of it! You alone are worthy of my highest praise. You alone are good. Great is the name of the Lord, famous above all else in the earth.
You, O Lord, are good. Your love endures forever. And I claim You as my God. But You first claimed me as Your own.
