First thoughts this Thanksgiving Day 2012

                                                             11/22/12

Thanksgiving Day

Dearest family and friends,                                          

               My first thoughts this morning were of the kindnesses and blessings of the Lord God and the constancy of family and friends. Reading Isaiah 50: 4 - one kindness is that we are given “words to sustain the weary and morning by morning he awakens; and he awakens my ear to hear and to be taught[i]”. What a blessing morning after morning, to experience his mercies that never come to an end and that sustain us. He quickens our ears to hear and our minds to know direction. What an undeserved blessing and kindness.

               Family and friends refresh and bring joy. The sight of the “cactus blooming in winter” caught my eye this morning. I recalled this flowering cactus from years gone by, and how each year circumstances surround our lives that bless and perplex. Psalm 103[ii] reminds me to “Bless the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits” and “as a father shows compassion so the Lord shows compassion and knows our frame”[iii]. Once the flowers of the cactus fall, the steadfast love of the Lord remains everlasting, and towards our children's children. The constancy of this love enables us to love family and friends and sustain with our care and words in both blessings and the hard times alike.

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[i] Is 50: 4 “The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.(ESV)

[ii] Ps. 103: 2 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,(ESV)

[iii]Ps 103: 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.(ESV)

Ps 103: 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.(ESV)




Ps. 103: 2 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,(ESV)

Great Is Thy Faithfulness
by Thomas Chisholm

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

© 1951 Hope Publishing Co

Great is Thy Faithfulness-