Gifts

It’s summer in the Arizona desert, and the temperature officially hit 115 yesterday. The sun was setting as I was leaving work, and as I walked out of the air conditioned hospital, the air was burning the skin of my face and my ears. It’s hot.

Took my usual route for my walk this morning and already it was getting hot. About two miles into it, I hit a stretch where the sprinklers were going. A gentle breeze blew across the path, and I stepped into a beautiful cool mist. It felt really wonderful, and I decided to stand there and cool down for a minute; but after only a few seconds, the sprinklers shut off! I had to chuckle to myself.

God is good to have given me that gift of coolness, a little respite from the heat, but I guess He didn’t put us here to be idle. There’s work to be done. I continued on my walk.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a little relief from the heat. Thank you, that I woke this morning with a song of praise in my heart. Thank you, Lord, for your Creation, for the blue sky and white clouds, for the grass and trees and the little hummingbirds I saw on my walk today. Thank you, also, for the fly that pestered me briefly and the cloud of gnats I walked through, for these things remind us of the nature of this fallen world, lest we forget. Thank you, for the grace to recognize your speaking to me in all these things. Thank you, for the strong legs you have given me that I am even able to walk. Thank you, Lord, for the understanding you give me. Thank you, Lord, for never ceasing to call to me, and thank you, for the grace to seek you and the grace to answer you. Thank you, for my wife and my beautiful children and my friends and everyone you have placed in my path, that we may all walk together, helping each other along. Thank you, my Lord and my God, that you made me to know you, to love you and serve you in this world, and to be happy with you forever in the next. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Amen.