Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Graced moments that put a smile in your heart: That’s my prayer for you this Thanksgiving. Whether you’re spending the holiday at home, traveling, or working, may you experience God’s love and peace in tangible ways. May joy fill your heart as you celebrate and give thanks for God’s abundant blessings. If you’re grieving or struggling, if celebrating is the last thing you feel like doing, may you sense our Lord speaking HIs love to irreplaceable you through people who wrap you in their love and appreciation.

This Thanksgiving, may you notice many things to be grateful for:

Thankful that you can stay in the comfort of your own home, or thankful for the time and means to travel.

Thankful for work to do, and thankful for the people who will benefit from your work.

Thankful for good health, or thankful for those who care for you.

Thankful for struggles that have brought out an inner strength you didn’t know you had, and thankful for the individuals who helped you get through those challenges.

Thankful for all the people our Lord has blessed you with.

Above all, thankful for God’s unconditional and ever-present love. 

May you have a spirit of gratitude that is deeper and richer than a mental ‘attitude of gratitude.’

With a spirit of gratitude, we open our hearts to the kind of contentment, peace, and joy that only God can give us. We invite contentment when we realize that everything we have is gifted to us from God. We invite joy when we thank God for the people we love, and let them know we love them. We invite peace when we thank God even for those people we find difficult. Guess what? They probably find us difficult, too. We invite joy when we make an extra effort to be kind to them. And, our spirit of gratitude leads us to experience both peace and joy when we recognize God’s loving hand guiding us and holding us close to Him in every circumstance we find ourselves in.

I’m thankful for all of you who read my reflections, pass them on to others, or give me feedback on what I’ve written. God gets all the credit: I thank Him for giving me the ideas and guiding the words I write. If something I’ve written touches your heart, it makes me happy to know that I’ve conveyed the message clearly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“May He grant you joy of heart, and may peace abide among you.”  –Sirach 50:23

“Thank You, Lord, for the countless blessings You have given me.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Life in Abundance

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Though our consumer society tells us otherwise, material goods may give us fleeting happiness, but the joy they give doesn’t last forever. Everything breaks down, or we get tired of them: cars, appliances, homes, clothes. Like the bicycle that brings happiness to the 10-year-old until he wants a bigger bike, our possessions bring us joy, but that pleasure is short-lived. We’re always searching for the bigger, newer item. 

Our souls are searching, too. They’re searching for Christ – for Peace. God designed us to understand that there’s more to life than accumulating stuff. Deep down, we’re happiest when we live in Christ and allow Him to fill us with His grace, power, and love. We experience lasting joy when we’re detached from our material goods; we feel His peace when what we want aligns with what He wants. As Augustine of Hippo wrote, “You have created us for Yourself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in You.” 

When Christ said, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10), He wasn’t saying, “If you follow Me then you’ll have material wealth and you’ll be free of hardships.” What He meant was more like, “If you follow Me then you’ll have riches that are greater than material goods. Do everything with Me and for Me, and I’ll give you hope in difficult times and peace through your suffering.” 

What does this abundant life look like? Goodness in our hearts. Joy in simple things. Detachment from worldly goods. The freedom, desire, and willingness to share what we have. A clear conscience. Avoidance of anything that separates us from Christ. A sense of purpose in contributing toward the betterment of society. Feeling that what we’re doing is what God wants us to do. Gratitude for our life; taking care of our body, mind, and soul. Appreciation of nature; taking care of our planet. A welcoming and inclusive heart toward people of all walks of life. The desire to spend time with our Lord – and doing so – to let His grace fill our heart. 

Having abundant life doesn’t mean we won’t have hardships. Christ wasn’t spared His passion and death, yet God used Christ’s suffering for a greater good: to break the power of evil and to prove that evil and even death itself didn’t have the last say. If we imitate Christ and ask God to use our suffering for some greater good, He will do so. We then trust Him to lead us through each difficult situation. His love gives us hope; His strength gives us peace.

Material goods give us fleeting happiness. Seek the lasting joy that comes from having an abundance of spiritual goods. Strive for riches that will never break down. Follow Christ, and let Him fill your soul with His abundant blessings.

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” – John 10:10

“Lord, fill my soul with Your riches.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo credit: Free-images.com

Whether you’re at home, traveling, or working this Thanksgiving Day, I hope you experience many moments that put a smile in your heart. As you celebrate the holiday, may you feel contentment and gratitude for all of God’s creation and those priceless gifts we call family and friends. If you’re grieving or struggling, if ‘celebrate’ is the last thing you feel like doing, may you sense our Lord speaking His love to irreplaceable you through people who wrap you in their love and appreciation today and in the days ahead. 

This Thanksgiving Day, may you notice many things to be grateful for:

Thankful that you can stay in the comfort of your own home, or thankful for the time and means to travel.

Thankful for work to do, and thankful for the people who will benefit from your work.

Thankful for good health, or thankful for those who care for you while you recuperate.

Thankful for struggles that have brought out an inner strength you didn’t know you had, and thankful for the individuals who helped you get through those trying times.

Thankful for all the people our Lord has blessed you with.

Above all, thankful for God’s unconditional and ever-present love. God is Love; whether you’re aware of it or not, this Love is always with you to guide you, strengthen you, give you hope, and bring you joy.

May you have a spirit of gratitude that is deeper and richer than a mental ‘attitude of gratitude.’

I’m thankful for all of you who read my reflections, pass them on to others, or give me feedback on what I’ve written. God gets all the credit: I thank Him for giving me the ideas and the words to write. If something I’ve written touches your heart, it makes me happy to know that I’ve conveyed the message clearly.

May this special day of giving thanks remind us all of God’s goodness and fill us with joy. Happy Thanksgiving!

“In all circumstances, give thanks…”  – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“Thank You, Lord, for the countless blessings You have given to me.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Let Christ Join You This Thanksgiving

Photo credit: Free-images.com

I thought I had another week! Somehow that ‘one week between now and Thanksgiving’ is upon us! So, the preparations have begun; for you, too, I presume. If you’re hosting dinner, you’re probably going to spend the next several days cleaning, shopping, decorating, baking, and figuring out how everyone will fit around the dinner table. 

Maybe you feel both excited and anxious when you think about how many people will be gathered. Maybe you also feel a bit tense about one person in particular who tends to be difficult.

Try this: In addition to planning for the usual guests, make room for Christ at your table, too, figuratively speaking. Make room for Christ in your heart, literally speaking. How?

Imagine our Lord saying to you:

I know you mean well. I know the gratitude that’s in your heart for all I have given you. I see that. I see how you want the day to be relaxing and happy, with everyone sharing a day of love together. You want them to know how much you love them, and how much I love them.

Put away your expectations of how the day should go and invite Me in to be present with you. Picture Me standing next to you, and listen to what I whisper in your ear. The loving and insightful thoughts that come to you come from Me. Let Me guide you and your day will contain more love and peace for you than it has in the past. 

I know you’re dreading part of the holiday. I know you have difficulty with that one person. Guess what? She’s having a rough time. It has nothing to do with you. Let Me handle the situation. You were created in Love, in My image, and so was she.

Let My love speak to your heart. Let My love flow from your lips and bring peace to your difficult relationship. This isn’t magic, and years of estrangement won’t evaporate in a day. But I promise you, if you listen to Me and offer My loving words, the tension between you will be lessened. I can’t promise that the other will respond in kind to your attempts. I gave each of you free will. But I do promise that if you offer words of love to the other, you will find more peace in your heart than if you continued as you always have: with fear and dread.

I created both of you in My image. Take a different path – try a different tactic from the usual – and experience My peace.

You are good. So is she.

Invite me in and let me show these truths to you.

“...the image of His own nature He made us.” – Wisdom 2:23

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” – Psalm 34:18

“Lord, I invite You to join us when we celebrate Thanksgiving.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Gratitude Lightens Our Burdens

They say that if we tossed our troubles onto a pile with our neighbors’ problems and then had the opportunity to take whatever we wanted, we would all choose to take back our own struggles over those of our neighbors. Maybe that’s because, while our challenges are burdensome, they are also familiar to us. 

Our sufferings are real, and life seems full of them. Our current problem may be so oppressive that it’s like a hand being held right in front of our eyes, blocking our view of everything else. If we mentally step aside for a moment, though, and move away from that blocked view, we would see that, even with this burden, we still can find much to be grateful for. This gratitude helps us handle our challenges. 

We can be grateful for our magnificent bodies, with the intricate workings of cells, organs, and systems that function without any effort from us! Even when we’re faced with illness or injury, while we’re taking steps to help our body heal or adapt we can still gratefully think, feel, do, and live! 

You are not a mere product of science or chance! Everything about you was deliberately created by God. You have skills and talents. You may not think yours are anything special, but your gifts are not exactly the same as anyone else’s, and your unique personality shapes how you use them. 

Look outside yourself and consider with gratitude your family, friends, and acquaintances. They are gifts for you, and you are gifts for them! Think of all the happy memories you’ve created together, challenges you’ve conquered together, things you’ve learned from each other, and how you’ve made life sweeter for each other just by being yourselves. 

Look with gratitude at your home, your clothes, and your possessions. Look with awe at the natural world around you. From the food that grows to the stars that capture our imagination, God created all of it for us to enjoy, marvel at, and learn from. 

Finally, consider God’s intangible gifts like laughter that eased your pain; strength that got you through a tough challenge; and answers to your prayers, even when you didn’t get the answer you’d hoped for. You’re grateful for all of it because you know that God does everything out of His love for you. Your gratitude reassures you that He will help you with your current challenge, too.

How do we show our appreciation for all God has done for us?  We take care of our bodies the best we can. We care for each other and cherish our time together. We share our time, talents, and possessions. We use the blessings of nature responsibly. 

We consider the wonders of all His gifts and pray from the heart: ‘‘Thanks.” 

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good He has done for me?” 

– Psalm 116:12

“Lord, open my eyes to fully appreciate all that You’ve done for me.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...

What We Long For

 

What We Long For

 “He longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.”

–Luke 15:16

The verse above is found in the story that traditionally has been called The Prodigal Son, The Lost Son, or The Forgiving Father. This parable holds many lessons for us; here’s one to consider:

We’re given details indicating that the father was wealthy. The younger son asked for his share of his inheritance while his father was still alive (see Luke 15:12) and ‘set off to a distant country’ (v. 13). While it was cruel to essentially tell his father he wished his father were dead, his wanting to get away from home isn’t much different from our own desires to move out on our own, travel and explore. He wanted to see what the rest of the world was like and how the people out there lived. Although he had everything he needed, he longed for something different and thought he would find it if he had the freedom to get out.

This verse makes it clear that, after a time, he found himself unhappy, starving, and alone. His new ‘friends’ left him when he ran out of money. Even the detested pigs ate better than he did. He had thought that getting ‘out there’ and away from his father would make him happy, but any happiness he experienced was short-lived.

Sometimes we, too, look outside ourselves for happiness, peace, and love. We mistakenly think that there is such a thing as a ‘perfect’ job, house, or spouse. We think we’ll be happy if only we could find it and may spend a lifetime chasing after it.

Augustine of Hippo once said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Nothing on earth can satisfy this longing in our hearts because what we’re longing for is Perfect Love and Perfect Peace – God Himself. Until we meet Him in eternity, we will find only glimpses of this Love and Peace here on earth.

God is love. He lives in you; He’s everywhere you are. Open your eyes to His presence. Allow Him to draw you closer to Himself and to fill your heart with more and more of His love. How? Some people take a moment each morning to write down three things they’re grateful for. Some sit outside or by a window and thank God for showing His love through nature. Some turn to the psalms or other Scripture passages for reminders of His love.

When you feel restless, remember that God created you. He designed you to long for Him -- Perfect Peace and Perfect Love. When you open your heart to His love and see Him all around you, you’ll get a glimpse of the joy and peace that awaits you in eternity.

“Lord, draw me closer to You. My heart will be restless until I rest in You.”

 

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! Feel free to share it with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Thanks!

 If you would like to receive these reflections directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

 p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...

 

 

 

The Countryside Sings!

 

 “The valleys are decked with grain. They shout for joy, yes, they sing.” –Psalm 65:13

In these days of late summer, in field after field, sweet corn stands proudly next to the highway as we drive west from Northeast Ohio. Soybeans and other crops expand across the landscape, ready and waiting to be harvested. The fields seem to sing for joy! Roadside stands abound with tomatoes, squash, peppers and other vegetables that were ripening in the sunshine just hours earlier. At least one has a sign that reads, “Free vegetables! Take what you need and pay it forward.” Who knew there could be so many varieties of tomatoes? This is a season for celebrating.     

“God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food… God looked at everything He had made, and found it very good.” –Genesis 1:29, 31

We thank God for providing all of this food for us. We’re grateful for it, and for the farmers and gardeners who do the work so that we can enjoy it. Our food nourishes our bodies; it also refreshes our souls and brings joy to our spirits. (Bite into an ear of roasted sweet corn and just try not to smile!) Everything God created, He created out of His love for us. We appreciate and celebrate not only the food, but also how He ordered the world to care for us and all creatures. The old hymn, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” written in 1715 by Isaac Waats, expresses this eloquently:

I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise,

That spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day.

The moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey.

 

I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food.

He formed the creatures with his word, and then pronounced them good.

Lord, how your wonders are displayed where’er I turn my eye:

If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!

 

There’s not a plant or flower below but makes your glories known,

And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from your throne;

While all that borrows life from you is ever in your care,

And everywhere that we can be,

You, God, are present there.

 Look all around you and marvel at the wonders of God’s creation. As you drive through towns large and small, gaze at the countryside bursting in song. Take your time, and stop at farmers’ markets and roadside stands. Join in the celebration of this late summer season and let your heart sing along!

 “Thank You, Lord, for all Your bounteous gifts of the earth!”

 

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 Gina Bedell    

If you would like to receive these reflections directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

Comments are always welcome! Feel free to share it with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Thanks!

 p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...

 

Celebrating Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

This Thanksgiving, may you celebrate the wondrous blessings of a home, a meal, and those priceless gifts we call family and friends. If you’re struggling, if ‘celebrate’ is the last thing you feel like doing, may the people around you wrap you in their love and appreciation. May all of you give thanks for the irreplaceable gift of YOU!

May you hold in the depths of your soul a Spirit of Gratitude for God’s immense love and grace. May this spirit of gratitude be a sentiment that is deeper, richer, and more joyful than a mental ‘attitude of gratitude.’ May you be graced with peace as you recall reasons to celebrate and blessings to be thankful for: friendship and kinship, food from God’s loving creation, and time to savor all of it.

May this special Day of Giving Thanks remind you of God’s goodness and fill you with joy!

 “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” –Psalm 150:6

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.” –Psalm 136:1

 

 If you like reading my reflections, please share them with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Also, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!