Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Bending The Knee


There are those times when I feel like God brings along something simple to speak profound truth to me, or to just wake me up to the state of my own heart. One of these small moments happened this Sunday. We had a few friends over for a meeting and I was greeting people, then rushing off to add the finishing touches on the snack/tea table. One sweet friend of mine followed me into the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear with a bag behind her back. I was thinking she had brought some of her local foods, which she's promised to teach me to cook. Instead, she got down on her knees before me and presented me with a small baby item which I had lent her months back. The absolute gratitude on her face and in her jubilant expression caught my heart. She gave me a humbly written thank you note to go with it, but nothing will make me forget her physical posture of thankfulness. I've had many thoughts rumbling around in my heart since then. How often do I give thanks with such humility and gratitude? How bent am I toward taking the time to thank my Daddy God, and others with a sincere and worshipful heart? On the flip side, I've found my heart frustrated when others take advantage, aren't thankful or appreciative. After experiencing "true" thankfulness from my friend, I've realized how often I have made it a habit of flippantly throwing out a "thanks!" to one who's labored on my behalf. I have become that person that frustrates me -quickly giving thanks, and not really saying it wholeheartedly. How about you? Where do you find your heart being drawn in this area of thankfulness? Join me in repenting for our ungrateful and flippant hearts, turning them to giving thanks to our God -to physically bring our hearts and bodies into a position of humble thankfulness. "What a wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25