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Doesn’t that sound so nice and cheery? Fuzzy bumblebees and friendly, blooming daffodils. However, the day I noticed them was anything but nice and cheery.

I have written before about a practice I started years ago after reading Ann Voskamp’s book “One Thousand Gifts.” Every day I try to write down at least one thing I am grateful for. Believe me, some days are easier than others to find things I am thankful for.

Isn’t it interesting how our circumstances can cloud our vision? On good days when things are going how I like them too, I can easily see God’s gifts to me and all the many blessings I have. But on the days when things are not going how I would like, my vision narrows and so does my gratitude.

So back to the bumblebees and daffodils. On that day I had deliberately put my giant list of to-dos aside and gone outside for a minute just to prune back my mint plant. My mind was still occupied with stress and worry though, even as the sun warmed my shoulders. Then I heard a humming and saw a fuzzy, round bumblebee land on the brightly blooming daffodils for a drink.

Just that simple moment brought my attention away from the stress and allowed gratitude to well up. Jesus was so good to design beautiful things for us to enjoy in nature, to replenish our souls when we are weary. I was able to go back to my tasks feeling lighter.

A friend of mine was talking about journals she had found of her mother’s that sounded a lot like my grateful lists. At first my friend could not understand why sometimes her mother would write something so simple as, “flowers,” but then as she herself went through some difficult times in her own life she began to understand. Sometimes life can be so hard that just to find one simple thing to be thankful for can feel almost impossible. But as the sign I saw in the craft store says, there is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

None of this is meant to produce guilt. God has designed the practice of gratitude for our good, not as a way to earn salvation or for us to be falsely cheerful. He knows that when we do take the time to be deliberately grateful, it expands our soul. It turns our eyes from our problems or difficulties to the One who holds all of it in His hands.

So I would encourage you today to find something you can be thankful for, even if it’s as simple as a bumblebee. You might be surprised to find that that one little step has the power to turn your whole day around.

“Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.” Psalm 54:6

In light of our “new normal,” I though it might be helpful to republish this blog from a couple years back:

I hope you were not expecting any fashion advice.  Those of you who know me know I am not a trendy dresser.  I joke that every now and then I am “accidentally” in style when the trend of the moment happens to be what I usually wear.  I might not follow the latest in fashion, but I have found something that helps me a lot.

A long time ago, I heard that people who got dressed right away in the morning were more successful throughout their day.  For some reason this advice stuck.  At the time, I was being home schooled so a lot of days I could have just stayed in my comfy p.j.s., instead I decided to follow the advice and started the habit of dressing first thing.  At the time, my public schooled friends couldn’t understand it and all claimed they would not get up and get dressed if they didn’t have to.

I honestly don’t know if this helped me any as a teenager, but I do know it helps now.  I have eight very energetic, enthusiastic kids that always need my help or attention about something.  If I don’t come out in the morning ready for the day, it might end up being noon before I look down and realize I am still in my robe.  We also have an open-door policy at our home, which means anyone might walk in at any time.

I home school and I teach my kids to get up and get dressed as well.  I get my fair share of grumbling from them as they would much rather stay in their p.j.s.  Confession: some of them try to beat the system by wearing their clothes to bed.  If I’m not paying attention some of them might be in the same outfit for a couple of days–yuck!  While I appreciate their efforts to cut down on our laundry demands, I still try to hammer home the benefits of a change of clothes.  I do give leniency on Saturday mornings, but through the week they are expected to be up and dressed.  After all, I doubt they will be able to show up at their future places of employment in pajamas and slippers.

The Bible talks about getting dressed first thing as well.  In the book of Ephesians it says to put on the full armor of God so when the day of evil comes we will be ready.  We might not always think of ourselves as soldiers needing armor, but in God’s view that is what we are.  You might want to take a minute to look up Ephesians 6:10-18, it’s a pretty specific list including things like the belt of truth, helmet of salvation, and breastplate of righteousness.

I have to confess that some days I am more concerned with the physical clothes I am going to put on than the spiritual.  I am usually reminded fairly quickly as I encounter my first “battle” of the day and find myself unprepared.  God’s armor is only a quick prayer away though and as fast as I can utter the word, “Help,” He has clothed me in His armor and I can take my stand.

“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”  Ephesians 6:13

A couple weeks ago at Cub Scouts one of the little boys was singing a Christmas song. His leader put a stop to his song by saying it is not Christmas, to which the little boy replied with the question, “Why?”

I say indeed, why is it not Christmas? However, even though it is not Christmas time, that fact does not mean we cannot learn from Christmas or, (at least at my house and not Scout meetings) sing Christmas songs! Anyway, a few weeks back the sermon at church was about bitter versus broken, and I though of the Grinch.

Dr. Seuss’ character gives us a vivid picture of someone choosing to live in bitterness for fifty-three years. Every year the Grinch would harden his heart against the “Whos,” (the inhabitants of the town just down the mountain from him) more and more until his heart had all but shriveled away. I don’t know if you have ever had the experience of meeting someone in real life who has done this sort of thing, but I have and it is very sad.

Unfortunately, a lot of us can carry some degree of bitterness around without even fully realizing it. Maybe it seems like just a little thing. That coworker you resent because they were promoted instead of you, but of course you are always polite to them. Maybe it is the slight from a family member that has hung around in your heart for years: you smile at the family get-togethers, but it still hurts underneath. Bitterness does not always shout from the mountain top the way the Grinch shouts in the story.

We all experience hurts in life. The question is whether we are going to remain bitter about it or allow the brokenness to soften our hearts and allow Jesus, the healer, to come in and mend the broken places. Bitterness says, “No thank you,” to healing. Brokenness acknowledges the hurt and pain and humbly receives the healing. Bitterness is usually out for revenge of some kind, like the Grinch determined to hurt the Whos as much as he thought they had hurt him. Brokenness is more honest and can cause us to see the blind spots in our own lives and seek forgiveness.

The good news for the Grinch as well as us, is that bitterness does not have to be permanent. Even if you have lived with something for fifty-three years, (or longer) this can be the day to let it go. This could be the day when forgiveness can flood into your heart and allow it to expand. When the Grinch finally experienced forgiveness his heart grew three sizes!

At the end of the story the Grinch and the Whos all join hands and sing. The Grinch not fully knowing the words or the melody yet, but still singing his newly-expanded, forgiven heart out. When we find the forgiveness that Jesus has for us, for everything in our lives, we can’t help but sing–even if it is Christmas songs in March!

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

Each of us has a way we identify ourselves and our role in the world: I am a teacher, I am a mom, I am an engineer and so on. Those labels are harmless for the most part and are usually what we tell another person when meeting them for the first time.

However, there are far more insidious labels we use for ourselves that for the most part we would never share with anyone. Unfortunately these can be things that were put on us by other people, usually when we were quite young or at a vulnerable place in life. And like name tags with super-glue, they have stuck with us for life.

These are labels such as fat, ugly, trouble, no good, worthless, mean, and the list goes on. Most of us have learned how to hide these words using a variety of methods. We might work really hard to live the exact opposite of a negative label or we might give in to the label as part of our identity that it is useless to try to change. Sadly, we also can self-medicate the label away with any number of vices or addictions many of them masquerading as “good things” such as work or service.

Thankfully, there is another thing we can do to remove these labels and live in real freedom. We can allow Jesus to give us a different name. Believe it or not He has all kinds of wonderful labels He attaches to you: beloved, child of God, kind, beautiful, precious, unique, clean, pure, worthy, wise, lovely, valuable and this list goes on as well.

We simply need to be willing for Jesus to remove our old names and receive His new name for us. He promises that He will renew our minds until those old thoughts and old patterns are healed. It can be scary and difficult to trust that Jesus has anything positive to say about us, but I challenge you to just ask Him. He has been waiting for you all your life with a new name that He has chosen just for you.

“You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.” Isaiah 62:2b-3

At one point in my past, I worked for my friends who are beekeepers. Their specialty is not honey as you might suppose, (although they do produce and sell delicious honey) but rather queen bees. If you know anything about bee hives you know that in order to have a happy, healthy, thriving hive, you need to have a healthy queen. This is where my friends come in, they specially raise queens to sell to other beekeepers.

My job was to go around and collect the newly ready queens from small hives that they hatched into. It was so interesting how each of these small hives had their own personality. I would know which one was likely to be a little cranky, which one was more mellow etc. However, they all had something in common, if the hive was missing a queen for more than a few days they would be very upset! The hive would be so agitated that I almost knew right away that looking for a queen would be futile.

After I became a mother, I began to see some similarities between my home and the beehives. If I would have to be gone for a length of time doing errands or something, my kids would not do as well as when I was home. The younger ones would become cranky and the older ones would be naughty, trying to get away with things that I didn’t allow!

I have been on this mothering journey for over 18 years now and it hasn’t changed. My little ones come to me regularly during the day for a quick hug or snuggle and even my 18 year old checks in at least once a day.

The other things my kids have in common with the bees is the “humming.” As long as things are going well in my home, you can hear this kind of low level buzz as kids hum or sing as they do their schoolwork, chores, or play. Of course, things are not perfect and frequently there will be an outburst as someone infringes on someone else’s rights, but for the most part things buzz along fine.

So I was thinking what the take away from all of this is for us as adult Christ followers. I think the question for us would be: how often are we checking in with Jesus during our day. Would we be more happy, calm and content if just like my children we were regularly going to Him with all the cares that come up in our day? Honestly, sometimes I simply go so fast through my day that the thought never enters my head to include Jesus in a decision I have to make or ask Him for help with a difficult task.

So this week as I go about my day to day life, I am going to remember the bees and try to receive peace and calm from Jesus. And just maybe, like my kids, I will find myself humming through my tasks.

“Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek out the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” I Chronicles 16:10-11

Don’t answer too quickly, it is a deeper question than it might appear. It might seem easy to say, “Of course I want God’s best for my life, that would be great!” The problem is when we say that, most of us are envisioning that His best is synonymous with the easiest. We picture God giving us happiness, health, maybe not wealth, but definitely enough money to be comfortable, and fulfillment in whatever we do. We do not think that God’s best could include illness, a car accident, or a lost job.

And I hear your arguments: those things come because there is evil in the world; Satan is behind the bad things; we all make choices; and probably a few more. Yes, all of those can be true, but they weren’t true for Job in the Bible and sometimes they aren’t true for us either. Sometimes God actually allows things we don’t see as good at the time because He can see the end from the beginning. He knows how much we are going to grow through the hard stuff.

I actually thought of this question recently as I was contemplating something that I view as very important and have been hanging onto rather tightly. I realized that the loss of this item might really be God’s best for me and He might have things planned for my life that I can’t even imagine at this time. BUT am I willing to accept His best or am I going to stay in the safe, known, not so best?

It comes down to another “ouch” question. Do I truly believe that God is who He says He is? He says He is a good father who always keeps His promises–and even when I have been impatient–He has. He says He will never leave us or forsake us–and even though I have been through some extremely dark times in my life–He never has.

So, after much contemplation and soul-searching, I am going to answer yes to my question. As scary as it seems to me right now, I am going to say yes, I want God’s best in my life, no matter what it might look like!

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'” Jeremiah 29:11

I would love to hear some of your thoughts about this question too!