Savor

The word SAVOR has blessed me alot recently. To savor something is to pause and just allow your senses to take it in. 

When Greg and I go on our walks I never seem to go fast enough. I love certain things so I stop. He no longer seems surprised when I walk into a random yard to touch or smell something. 

This tree is one of my favorite things to savor. I love the texture of the bark. It draws me in and I just want to touch its crinkled bark. I want to smell it and yes even hug it. Just looking at this picture makes me happy. 

Savoring something is as powerful as the gift of gratitude and thankfulness. It brings healing to the mind and body. It awakens us to the beauty around us and if we know the LORD, the awe will bring us to a position of worship.

Savoring someone or something is at the heart of 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

What if the whole reason God challenged us to live with a thankful heart full of gratitude that took time to savor the moment was because HE knew this would bring healing? 

What if God invites us to savor because it stops our grumbling and complaining? 

Honestly, I don't have to say, "What if!"  I know in my knower! 

When I savor, I see beauty. I feel connected in community and I express worship through thankfulness.

It is so easy to grumble and complain in our mind and with our words, but the better way is to take time to savor the moment or person. 

What do you have to be thankful for? 

How can you show gratitude? 

How can you pause and just enjoy the moment or the person? 

How can you speak life into the moment or the person?  

How can you celebrate your senses and experience things around you through them? 

Today, will you consider taking time to savor something or someone. Fully embrace the gift of your senses and just enjoy the pleasures God has already given you. 

Oh and this tree just happens to be on Cinnamon Street and I love to say this word. Go ahead and say it aloud a few times. It is beautiful that way it rolls off the tongue. Cinnamon! Cinnamon!

Now look at how the bark almost looks like cinnamon sticks. God is so good to us! 

Shalom y’all.

Do you ever struggle with gratitude?

Do you ever struggle with gratitude? I know I do. Sometimes, I want to just grumble and complain. Oh God forgive me! My mom Olive Kathy Warren is blessing me so much as I watch her journey a very difficult season. Literally, she oozes thankfulness and gratitude. She is having to figure out a new norm and when we talk she tells me of the simple joys she had that day. 

This morning as I read 1 Chronicles 23, I read again that the priests were given the task to start the day and end the day with giving praise and thankfulness to the LORD. As I prayed over our family asking God to make us a people that start our day and end our day in praise and thankfulness, I was reminded of how praise and thankfulness are a gift to us mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, and even spiritually.

Did you know that scientists have done research and that patients that give thanks and gratitude release serotonin and dopamine the feel good hormones? Science supports what God has already shown us. 

"Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever!" (Psalm 136:1-2).

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16

When I taught at the University of Houston in a lab school, we used to have a saying on really bad days when it seemed like the whole classroom was in complete chaos, "He/she has good bones." No matter how bad it got, we could find something good to say. Even if it was simply someone has good bones. They couldn't do what they were doing if their bones were not functioning well. Lol.

What can you give thanks for today? How can you praise God? Thankfulness and gratitude are gifts of God that give back to you. Give them freely and give them generously. Blessings will over flow inside you because of it! 

By the way, I praise God for you!

Written February 4, 2022

The Gift of Gratitude and Thankfulness

Do you ever struggle with gratitude?  I know I do. Sometimes, I want to just grumble and complain. Oh God forgive me! My mom Olive Kathy Warren is blessing me so much as I watch her journey a very difficult season. Literally, she oozes thankfulness and gratitude. She is having to figure out a new norm and when we talk she tells me of the simple joys she had that day. 

This morning as I read 1 Chronicles 23, I read again that the priests were given the task to start the day and end the day with giving praise and thankfulness to the LORD. As I prayed over our family asking God to make us a people that start our day and end our day in praise and thankfulness, I was reminded of how praise and thankfulness are a gift to us mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, and even spiritually.

Did you know that scientists have done research and that patients that give thanks and gratitude release serotonin and dopamine the feel good hormones? Science  supports what God has already shown us. 

"Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever!" (Psalm 136:1-2).

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16

When I taught at the University of Houston in a lab school, we used to have a saying on really bad days when it seemed like the whole classroom was in complete chaos, "He/she has good bones." No matter how bad it got, we could find something good to say. Even if it was simply someone has good bones. They couldn't do what they were doing if their bones were not functioning well. Lol.

What can you give thanks for today?  How can you praise God? Thankfulness and gratitude are gifts of God that give back to you. Give them freely and give them generously. Blessings will over flow inside you because of it! 

By the way, I praise God for you!

Growth Over Movement

Have you ever noticed that true growth is never about the other, but about you? I literally can reflect on images in my mind of times when I really wanted God to do something in another person, but when I stopped and took time to pray and seek the LORD, He always showed me that He wants growth in me not movement. 

I have discovered that when I focus on the other person's "issue" or "fault" I toss to and fro. When I am in a pendulum of movement it has no place to stop because I cannot control another. I can only control me. So, when I pause and ask God to grow me, I stop tossing and become peaceably settled because I begin to move from the Spirit's grace and gifting and not my need for control or even revenge. 

I love it when I live in it. I hate it when I don't. Because movement causes motion sickness, but growth bears good fruit. 

I found some rich truths that bring spiritual growth in my life. These are not exhaustive, but they help me settle in and stop being tossed to and fro. May you might find this to be true for you, too.

Dwelling richly in Ephesians 4:1-16 (Consider reading it).

1. I am called to live a life worthy of the calling I have received in Christ. I am also called to the 7 fold Oneness in Christ.

2. When I dwell richly in Christ I am able to be humble, gentle, patient, in the Spirit, and in peace.

3. The actions I must take are bearing with others, loving others, and making every effort to keep spiritual unity with others.

4. I have received the gift of grace (kindness of God) and leadership gifts by God. 

5. I am to use the grace and gifts to serve, build up, grow the unity of faith, and to encourage maturity, wholeness, and the full measure of Christ among those who believe. 

6. I am to guard against being spiritually an infant, being tossed to and fro by every kind of teaching, craftiness, and scheming.

7. I am to seek growth over movement by speaking truth in love, growing, maturing, building up in love, and doing my part.

This morning as I found myself once again tossing to and fro God used these seven reminders of who I am and what I am called. Generous grace will bear witness. I may not ever see it, but I can trust the gift of this truth. 

Father, please help me to grasp grace (Your loving kindness) so that I might live a life that is gracious and full of generous gratitude that brings growth for Your glory. In Jesus name amen.