“To Remember With Appreciation"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"To Remember With Appreciation"

   

     I recently spent the last few weeks apart from a dear friend whose company I have enjoyed nearly every day for fourteen years.

    

   I cut my finger doing yard work several Saturdays ago.  I won't reveal how this happened because you would immediately ask that your name be removed from our mailing list if I told you the story.  "That is unquestionably the dumbest human being on the planet, and I will not read anything else he writes lest his dimwitted simplemindedness lead me astray!"  You would be right, of course.  So, I'll keep to myself the details of my injury in hopes you will hang in there with us.  :):)  The upshot of this is that I could not play guitar for two weeks as the cut healed.  My finger still remains sensitive, but it has healed well enough to make playing possible.

   Back to my friend, a Taylor CE 310, purchased in 2005.  We estimate that this guitar has accompanied us in nearly 5,000 services, and likely 25,000 hymns and songs.  It possesses wonderful tone, stays in tune, plays easily, records well, and still looks pretty good despite having been bumped more times than I can remember.  We have transported the Taylor tens of thousands of miles from place to place, and all without even a hint of problem.  I consider it a friend, and one that I have greatly missed during the period I could not fret strings with my wounded finger.

   I share this with you to raise the point of how easy it is to take things for granted.  Indeed, one reason our Lord made us with the capacity for thanksgiving involves the fact that gratitude helps us to remember the gifts of God with the awareness of appreciation.  "I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Thy wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11).  Giving thanks in a conscious and specific manner greatly helps us to maintain an atmosphere of heart and mind whereby we realize how undeservedly blessed we are.  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from Above" declared James (James 1:17).  Moreover, every good and perfect gift comes to us by way of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.  Were it not for His atoning work for us, God's righteousness would require that we receive His wrath rather than mercy.  "Without the shedding of blood is no remission (forgiveness)" - Hebrews 9:22.  Thus, our Father's giving graces us by way of Christ's dying.  His gifts, free to us, cost the Lord Jesus more than we will ever know.  This includes our next breath, and every blessing we will ever receive from His gracious heart and hand.  Gratitude and consciously expressed thanksgiving help us to not take such lovingkindness for granted.   "I will remember Thy works… Thy wonders."

   I am glad to be able to play the guitar again.  I hope this brief period away from the Taylor will help me to remember with wonder and appreciation not only my guitar, but all things so graciously given by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.  I hope to not take His grace for granted, but rather to receive His grace with gratitude.  These past few weeks have reminded me of this privileged responsibility to remember with appreciation.

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

(I Thessalonians 5:18)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.

(Hebrews 12:28)

  

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