Windows of Heaven
If God were to open the windows of heaven and pour down upon you blessings, what would they look like to you? Or put another way, what do you consider as God's blessings?
Today was cookie day at my daughter's house. I nipped over and collected one of my daughter-in-laws- 'yes, Tobe, Grandma can drive'- and as we entered my daughter's kitchen I could hear my adorable cousin's voice relating a story to my Granddaughter. I could say we had several generations present. From Adorable and my generation all the way down to my youngest grandbaby.
I find that peace and patience amongst my family is a blessing. I am not especially patient, and confession time here, I've decided that I'm not really hankering after patience as much as I once was. At one point in my young life I asked God for the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon. I developed the wisdom aspect a bit further /sooner than the patience part. It appeared that God kept sending me children, and I decided that I didn't want any more patience or wisdom after about the fourth child...then God sent me three more children just to make sure. Today I wouldn't trade any of my patience or wisdom for less children. I'm just saying be careful what you pray for you may get something you are not expecting.
Not only did I receive seven beautiful children, but I've received five favorite daughter-in-laws and one wonderful favorite son-in-law. We are still wondering who the last son will receive in answer to our prayers. As I've told my listeners 'When my husband married me he was sure he'd gotten a prize. After a few years he realized he'd gotten a sur-prize (surprise). That's often the way it goes, and sometimes it is a good surprise, and sometimes not.
When the children were still at home we had myriad traditions. Stockings were a major tradition. Whereas when I was small we did put out stockings. We usually hung them from the silverware drawer for some reason. Insert here a jolly face. And we found nuts and apples/oranges in our stockings in the morning at least at our grandparents' house. I don't remember stockings at my mom's.
However, at our house stockings evolved into mini-Christmas trees. Yes, we had the candy, fruits and nuts, but also some little presents. The reason was Mrs. Santa often spent until the wee hours of Christmas morning finishing homemade presents as well as wrapping, and we had a rule don't wake Mrs. Santa up before 5/6 O'clock Christmas morning. Which gave Mrs. Santa about two, maybe three hours of sleep before a full Christmas day of preparing food and whatnot. The small gifts gave the kiddos a game or whatnot to play with while they ate their goodies and got ready to open their important gifts. Wink wink here.
Throughout the years this same Mrs. Santa has most always been the last straw on the stack at night. On one of our sons' graduations I spent at least a week of nearly sleepless nights cleaning and preparing for the party. The day before the big day was no less busy. I cleaned the house and prepared food all that day, always finding 'just one more thing to do' before I went to bed. As the sun came up in the morning of the big day I was taking a load of laundry out to hang on the clothes line. I watched as the messengers of the morning pierced the sky, and I wondered at the beauty of God's creation. I also knew I didn't dare go to bed that day, or not only wouldn't I get everything done, but I wouldn't be worth two cents at anytime during the day. The house was gorgeous, the food was great, and it was between ten thirty and eleven o'clock before I made it to bed that evening.
Time marches on, and as I told one of our fellow church goers, Christmas/or holidays come no matter whether we're ready for them or not. Life is the same way. It happens whether a person is ready or not. Three and a half years ago I was still pushing the puck as far down the court as possible, trying to 'get everything done'. I got up one Sunday morning after a late night of preparing for children's classes, Sunday lunch and what not, but I didn't feel well. The day progressed, we made it through the morning worship activities and lunch and afternoon activities, and I still didn't feel well. Long story short I ended up going to the emergency room, and good news bad news they couldn't find anything 'wrong'. Only my blood pressure was up, but everything else looked normal. Yes, I hurt all over and I was in pain, but apparently there wasn't anything they could point to as the culprit.
I've learned a few things since then. I don't ever want to be in that much pain again. Even I have my limitations. There is a point in my day that I have to stop and rest. I'm still often the last one to bed--not always, but often. I still have the tendency to push to the last point on my dial, but that point has changed. There are times when things come out of my mouth such as "I can't do that", or "I need to rest"--instead of just embarrassing things that used to come out of my mouth (such as the peanut butter story).
Our blessings come in different guises. This morning, the day after Christmas, when yes, I did push a little too far, I'm still thankful. I'm thankful that I know I have limitations. That means I'm not God and I need to let Him control things. As the Apostle Paul said:
