"Thank You": The Secret Password

I gave an early Christmas gift this year.  I was soooo excited about it, I could not wait for her to get it.  And it wasn't a typical hurried out of impatience thing, it needed to be given asap.  After I texted about the arrival of the gift, it took a little time for her to respond, so it ramped up my anticipation even more.  They say "it is more blessed to give than to receive", and as a kid, we thought - "yeah, right", but now we really do know it's true!  Giving a good gift is a blast - we wait expectantly, knowing ahead of time how happy it will make someone.

As I was looking forward to her discovering my gift, I couldn't help but think of how God is probably the same way.  Not like me, but I think this Spirit in me came from Him.  Every morning He creates something(s) for us to see -  something that He wants to give to us to woo us, to show us that He's been thinking about us, and that He cannot wait (actually, He can) for us to see because He made it especially for us.  Then I got to thinking how often I miss these gifts of His because I'm too wrapped up in my own junk.  Eyes to the floor (or on myself) rather than wide open in anticipation.  I wonder if He gets sad that I did not see His gift, or worse - that I saw it, but did not appreciate it because my mind was too cluttered with other stuff.

For the month of November, I decided to post every day something that I was thankful for.  This was completely therapeutic.  It reframed my mind every day and reminded me that praise and thankfulness change how we see.  The Message version of Psalm 100:4 says:

We can enter His Presence with the password, "Thank you".  

Sarah Young's, Jesus Calling, echoed this idea by reminding us that "Hallelujah" is the "language of heaven" and it allows the "scales to fall off of our eyes, enabling us to see more and more of My glorious riches".  So, with an attitude of thankfulness and praise, we see the good things that God has placed all around us better.

When you give a good gift to someone and they really appreciate it, don't you want to keep giving more to them?  That's the key to God's Presence.  It's this thankful - anticipatory - enamored cycle!  It's our job, and our joy, to stay in it.  Just like the hymn reminds us; we wouldn't be able to see new mercies morning by morning had we not already been proclaiming the Greatness of His Faithfulness!

I was listening to Thomas Keating earlier this week and he was talking about "Playing with God".  I had never heard that phrase before.  He encouraged us to  be in an attitude where we are a ball that God places wherever He wants others to play with us.  I think when I was able to give that early gift this week, since it was what I felt to be a Spirit-led gift that needed to be given in that moment, I got to be the ball.  It was awesome!  I had the scales taken away from my eyes during a month of thankfulness so I was better able to see the game I was in - This Presence-of-God game - that I got to play in!  When in this frame of mind, we get to see opportunities to become the gift-giver and experience the joy that God experiences when He gives gifts to us.  It's an even cooler thankful - anticipatory - enamored cycle because rather than just noticing something He did for us, we get to bring someone else along and let them experience that joy as well.

As I sat during my devotional time this morning, my eyes drifted to the Nativity scene that I had just set up across the room.  Talk about waiting for others to receive a gift!  God waited from the beginning of time to give us Himself - THE BEST GIFT EVER!  Just to play with us.  

Oh, "let's shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!  Let's march into His Presence singing praises, lifting the rafters with our hymns!" Psalm 95:1-2 (The Message)

Flikr Photo Credit:   Eye:  Just_4_act