Gratitude is the sign of noble souls ~ Aesop


Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving ~ Kahlil Gabran


Joy delights in joy ~ William Shakespeare


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

I love a deer with a sense of humor:)


Celebrate for good times

A few weeks ago, my Dad came to visit my husband and me to see our lovely little home before we sold it.  We were feeling a bit discouraged because it had been on the market for a month and we hadn't had any offers -- and we were really needing to sell and move by summer's end.  He surprised us by saying he wanted to take us out for a celebration dinner -- celebration of what, we wondered.  He said he felt like God wanted him to take us to celebrate the fact that a sale was already set in motion and the right family was being prepared and that as far as God was concerned, the house was already sold.  So in the spirit of pre-gratitude, we celebrated and toasted with champagne and had the best meal we have had in months.  We laughed and ate and the heaviness of worry and stress just lifted right off our shoulders.  We needed to celebrate -- to celebrate all that we have already been blessed with in our lives and all of the good things that are to come.  To celebrate the promise that God always provides for our needs and as my brother put into song many years ago we should never give up on the brink of a miracle.  In other words, as one of my favorites, Julian of Norwich so aptly said many centuries ago, "All will be well and all will be well and all matter of things will be well."  And as Paul said so beautifully in his letter to the Romans, "We know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good."  For us the pattern took an unconventional shape where we celebrated first, and then three days later we got an offer from a family who said that for years our home had been their dream home, and that when they drove by and saw the sign in the front yard, they knew that it was more than one kind of sign:)  We are in escrow now and are waiting with joyful anticipation of the new jobs are that we celebrated that night too.  "Now to him who by his power within is is able to do infinitely more than we ever dare to ask or imagine -- to him be the glory" Amen, and thanks Dad!