This week I’m choosing to spend a little less time focused on my to-do list and a little more time practicing gratitude.
Please take a moment to read Luke 17:11-19 from Sunday’s sermon.
If I’m honest, I’m often more like the nine lepers in this passage than I care to admit. I’m busy. I’m a mother, a wife, a friend and I work part-time. I cook meals, attend Bible studies, grocery shop and run a household. I plan dates, manage our finances and participate in a community group. I do a lot of good things, good things that I love and enjoy. But again, if I’m honest, more times than not I’m so busy checking off my to-do list that I miss the beauty of the goodness around me and fail to express my gratitude to the Creator.
My three-year-old, Olivia, is not this way and I love that God consistently uses her sweet voice to capture my attention. The other morning, as we were sitting down to eat breakfast, my little nature lover ran outside to take in the beauty of a blooming flower on our new plant. Between catching up on text messages, emails and making breakfast I hadn’t noticed. Olivia was so excited that God had made that flower just for us. Like the tenth leper who acknowledged his healing and returned to Jesus to thank him, my Olivia thanked God, right then, for that purple bloom. She had to Facetime her grandma to share the beauty of this bloom with those that she loved. When her dad came home from work, even though an entire day of activities went by, it was the first thing she showed him.
Olivia is aware of God’s goodness all around her and she isn’t distracted by the busyness of her day to immediately praise Him and thank Him. If I’m honest, I still have quite a lot to learn about our Father from my daughter, and the one leper that returned. This week I’m choosing to spend a little less time focused on my to-do list and a little more time practicing gratitude.
