Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Orange Moon Cafe "More Than Memories"

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

 

   "More Than Memories"

   

     When memories become opportunities for thanksgiving rather than simply recollections, a blessed altar of the heart lies within us.

 

   "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17).

 

   "I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11).

 

    I thought of this when remembering a dear aunt who served as a special blessing during my childhood.  She did many wonderful things for me, too many to name them all, but one I happened to recall this morning.  It was a simple thing.  When I stayed with her family, she would often make popcorn for me and my cousin while we watched TV during the evenings.  A Coca Cola accompanied the treat, and while it has been a half century since those blessed occasions, the memory is still sweet (and salty, considering the popcorn aspect of the matter!).

 

    This recollection could be merely a nice thing to remember.  However, if "every good gift" is "from above," it seems more appropriate to see my aunt's kindness as an opportunity for giving thanks to the Source of every blessing.  I did so this morning, which led to this consideration, and also to the sense of God's long ago gift through my aunt becoming more complete in my heart.  Indeed, in our human relationships, giving and receiving becomes far more blessed when the recipient gratefully expresses thanksgiving, and the giver graciously accepts.  In far greater measure, God's wondrous generosity offers opportunity for pleasing Him, and also the enrichment of spirit we experience when we express gratitude to Him.  "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High" (Psalm 92:1).

 

    More than memories.  When recollection of the past becomes an altar of thanksgiving in the present, we bless our Heavenly Father.  He does not need our gratitude, of course.  But He does enjoy it.  "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).  However, we do require gratitude and the giving of thanks. Thereby we acknowledge the fact of our dependence, and more importantly, God's gracious and generous  bestowal of lovingkindness.  Thanksgiving blesses His heart and ours as recollections become more than memories in the acknowledgement of the One who…

 

"Giveth to all life and breath and all things."

(Acts 17:25)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

     In the multitude of words there wanteth (lacks) not sin."

(Proverbs 10:19)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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