Thanksgiving

Things for which I am thankful:

• God's humility--that He cares for such small silly creatures.
• Jesus' humility--that He not only became a man and submitted to death on a cross but that He allows His glory and image to be vested upon anyone who so desires to have it by simply following Him and acknowledging that He is the only one who truly deserves it.
• Humiliating experiences that have allowed me to find a better road.
• God's patience--that no matter how many times I learn a lesson and how many times I forget it, He is willing to forgive me again and teach me again, if I will only remember to repent and acknowledge my need of Him.
• The diversity of mankind--that there are people-people, task-people, vision-people, creative-people, concrete-people, and so on, and that each gift is lovely and beautiful in its own way. I'm learning to appreciate each of these qualities for itself and in the process to actually accept myself for who I am and the way God designed me even if it's not the way I would have designed me, and for this I am thankful.
• Hope. I can get entirely fed up with myself and overwhelmed with my unending wandering from the truths I have known all my life, but I have a sure hope in Christ that He is leading me into paths of righteousness.
• God's word. It is a strange book, but it is light and life.
• Home, parents, family, friends. I feel so incredibly blessed with amazing relationships and a peaceful, safe, loving home in this foreign land.
• Laughter, fun, tennis, dancing, music, singing, rain, breezes, fall leaves. The beauties and joys of living.
• Conviction, confession, repentance. Perhaps this sounds a strange one, but I have sincerely been thankful for these experiences of late. I am truly thankful when I feel God's Spirit moving in my heart and leading to these experiences because certainly these things do not happen when I am the one in control.
• Holiness, Dignity, Glory. I am thankful for visions of majestic kingdoms and the peoples that live in such lands and knowing that we are intended to be those very people.
• Words and precision. I love words, and I love precision. Put those together, and I love using the most appropriate word for a particular situation. So I am thankful for occasions when words and precision come together. ;-)
• Knitting and other simple tasks. These bring me strange joy.
• The hope of marriage and motherhood.
• Sorrow and being able to see my folly. These, too, I find to be evidences of the Holy Spirit's presence, and so I am often thankful when I experience sadness in my heart or see clearly the foolishness of my desires or behavior.
• Bumblebee, my car. I decided to start calling my car Bumblebee after seeing "Transformers." =) He's so cute. But really, I am thankful for my car. I like him a lot.

For what are you thankful?