From “Ruthless Trust” (Brennan Manning), page 24
“Let’s say I interviewed ten people, asking each the same question – ‘Do you trust God?’ – and each answered, ‘Yes, I trust God’, but nine of the ten actually did NOT trust him. How would I find out which one of the ragamuffins was telling the truth?
I would videotape each of the ten lives for a month and then, after watching the videos, pass judgment using this criterion: the person with an abiding spirit of gratitude is the one who trusts God.
The foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness. Gratitude arises from the lived perception, evaluation, and acceptance of all of life as grace – as an undeserved and unearned gift from the Father’s hand. Such recognition is itself the work of grace, and acceptance of the gift is implicitly an acknowledgement of the Giver.
The grateful heart cries out in the morning, ‘Thank you, Lord, for the gift of a new day.’ And it continues to express its gratitude as the blessings unfold.”
Please, Lord, sink that deep in my heart, let every fiber in my being be grateful -for the good and the hard – the sweet and the bitter – for beauty and the ashes, for strength and for weakness…
Thank you for the beauty to be found in the smallest creatures:
Hey! Over here! Aren’t I darling?
Get closer, I’ll just hang here for awhile.
Oh, I am a lovely robin!
And the glory of your majesty in a sunrise and a sunset:
Sunset!
Sunrise!
Let me look for the blessings in THIS day and be grateful to you, Heavenly Father, for all and in all!
Seeking!!!
Kimmy
crazycascadecountry 