Never Ever Dull
With every conversation, I always seem to end with "Never a dull moment"....our lives are rich, complex, and beautiful stories. Join me in laughing about everyday things and appreciating life-bumpy roads and all.
Well...I'm not sure about that "mosquitos" part to be perfectly honest with you. That's even a stretch for me. A couple of years ago, I read a book by author and speaker Ann Voskamp. It was a game changer for me. Throughout the entire book, she weaved in the theme: to be thankful first. Of course, in Ann Voskamp's eloquent style, she included a key phrase: Eucharisto precedes the miracle. "Eucharisto" is the Greek word meaning "to give thanks". Her point: you have to be thankful here in the present....being thankful in this moment for whatever is going on in your life before you can truly grasp the beauty of the miracle. Sounds simple, but let's be real. We all have moments, days, weeks, and seasons where we're pulling up our boot straps and stomping through a rough terrain of obstacles that we didn't have in our plans. Yet, being thankful for even those obstacles is key. Maybe those annoying and frustrating things that are placed in your life are barriers preventing you from harm or perhaps they're equipping you to handle a situation that might arise later. This week, a fiend was having one of those "feel like nothing is going right" moments. To encourage her, I said, "Be thankful for the fleas." She looked at me like a was a five headed alien. I quickly realized I needed to recount Corrie Ten Boom's story: adapted from The Hiding Place: The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested. They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good. Corrie’s sister Betsie decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas. This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsie insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas. Betsie and Corrie would often quietly share passages from the Bible with the other prisoners, ever mindful to be careful to avoid being overheard by the guards. If caught, the punishment would be unthinkable. Even without provocation of this kind, the guards regularly assaulted the women. Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They found that the guards never entered their particular barracks. This meant that while in the barracks the women were safe from assault. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp. Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ. Only in the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks. It was because of the fleas. Thanking God for fleas may seem just plain crazy. But yet, developing a heart of thanks for whatever we may encounter is what matters most. I'm a work in progress....striving to mold my heart into one that reflects my desire to be thankful for everything. There's always, always, always something to be thankful for.
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AuthorFun-loving mom to 4 kids and 1 big puppy. Fifth grade teacher of amazing little people who have never ending things to share with me. Love to discuss Jesus, diy projects, and life. Trying to keep it simple: Love Jesus, love people. Archives
December 2021
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