Using The Right End of the Pencil

"I will praise the name of God with a song,

And will magnify Him with thanksgiving."  

Psalm 69:30

"Something always comes to fill the empty places.  

And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, 

I make a place for God to grow within me.  

This, this, makes me full . . ."  

("One Thousand Gifts," by Ann  Voskamp)

   

I would like to sharpen this pencil.

     Do we have "empty places" to fill? Is someone missing from the dinner table? Has regret left bullet holes in our perspective?  Do our discontent and wants erase all the blessings God's written into our existence?
     God's as big as He's ever been, as alive and active as always (in spite of the obituary Nietzsche wrote for Him) and He will act as He will act. We can't make Him any bigger (magnify Him) except in our own lives. When it comes to individuals, He knocks at the door, waiting for an invitation. He's not like that person at the theatre who arrives late then pushes past all the prompt and comfortable people to get to the one seat in the middle of a wide row. He waits for us to volunteer to step out of the way, then He enters and distributes blessings. 

     Let's turn the pencil around and use the other end to scribble down the good, to sketch the beautiful scenes, and to compose songs of praise.  This is how we magnify the Lord with thanksgiving.

Father, it's foggy out this morning, like clouds on a mountaintop rolling quietly into the valley, like Emmanuel - God with us. Thank You for pure white mornings. Thank You for Saturdays, extra sleep, and flexible schedules. Thank You for using people like Sarah Young ("Jesus Calling") and Ann Voskamp ("One Thousand Gifts") to remind us that You roll the fog of Your Holy Presence in and around us daily, willing to enter at our invitation.  The door is open - flow through us and accomplish Your Will in us as You accomplish Your Will in heaven.

In the Name of Jesus Who filled the empty place between You and us.