Colossians 2:6-7
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

I love the mental pictures in that passage. Today, the image of “overflowing with thankfulness” is very powerful.

As a teenager, I would scoff during the times when a group would go around the circle and each would say one thing they were thankful for. I thought it was uncreative when someone would say “I’m thankful for my family” or “I’m thankful for my friends” and I would try and come up with something unique. But I get it now.

How many nights do we go to bed fully expecting to wake up the next morning, not realizing that the only reason we got through the day was by God’s grace and that the next day is not guaranteed? Just opening my eyes to a new morning is a gift, and one that I should be thankful for. Nothing good that has happened to me, happened by my own merit. I am so undeserving of the life I have, and my list of things for which I’m grateful should grow with each breath I breathe.

I was initially going to write a post with a list of what I’m most thankful for, but I changed my mind. I am thankful for everything. Not because I’m a cop-out or because it’s what I’m supposed to say, but because of this:

James 1:17-18
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Tags: faith, scripture

Rob and I have a friend, James, who we met in college. He was a piano major, and he’s an incredible musician and a great person. We haven’t gotten to hang out with him (and his wife, also a piano graduate) in a while, so naturally I was thinking about him today.

In our pathetic excuse for a music building, there was one hallway, 2 classrooms, one “recital hall”, and 8 practice rooms. Eight rooms for 250+ students. That wasn’t cool. It eventually turned into 9 practice rooms, because one of the classrooms had a grand piano and the piano students liked to use that when a class wasn’t in session.

The problem with being in a building so small was that everyone could hear you practice. The few times I actually practiced at school, I was always self-conscious. I knew people were peeking at me through the glass window in the door; we all did it.

Anyway, whenever someone was in practice room #9, people sitting in the hall would try to guess who it was since you couldn’t effectively peek in the room. The easiest piano player to “recognize” was James.

James loves The Lord of the Rings. He also loves film scores. I could go on and on about his level of obsession, but suffice it to say that the two loves merged beautifully when the movies came out. So his practice room routine went a little like this:

Chopin, Chopin, Chopin, A Few Bars of This, Chopin, Chopin

It was unmistakable. Everyone knew that when James was in the room you’d hear LOTR at some point. I’m not sure what would make him break into it when he did. Maybe he couldn’t remember the next section of the Chopin; maybe he was getting frustrated; maybe he just felt like it.

Jeremiah 20:9
But if I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.

Is my love for God so unmistakable that it comes out in everything I do? Can anyone observing tell that He is my desire? Is He my desire?

I’m not quite sure how to close this other than to say that writing this really makes me miss James & Samantha, and I need to call them.

Tags: faith, scripture