Following on from yesterdays thoughts about the incredible gift our five senses are to us, it seems appropriate that today we consider the power of thanksgiving to help us ‘pause’ in life in order to use those five senses well. Using thanksgiving to slow ourselves down in order to listen, look, savour a moment or just drink in the Lords love can be invaluable in our frenetic world.
Learning to ‘slow down’ or take a moment to pause and give full attention in the moment to what is before us, can enhance and enrich our lives in many ways. In some respects we are going back to the Garden of Eden, where God walked with Adam and Eve and communed with them. One can imagine them enjoying the delights of their surroundings with their Maker, revelling in the sights and the sounds before them.
Sometimes we too can find great refreshment by simply ‘having a walk’ with the Lord and telling Him how amazing He is, as we examine a leaf or a flower, or as we consider the incredible thing that a cloud is, or look at a sunset and drink in beauty of the scenery around us. I think the Lord loves it when we tell Him how stunning we think something is and thank Him for putting so much life and joy in the world around us.
David must have had many of these conversations with the Lord as he watched his sheep on the hillside. No wonder the songs he wrote in praise still bless us so richly today. He got to understand the heart of God in such a brilliant way that he could write Psalm 23 which, throughout the ages, has helped countless numbers of us to understand God as our tender and loving shepherd through all of life’s circumstances.
I know I, and many others, draw on that psalm regularly, so may be if we can slow ourselves down from our busy 21st century lives by regularly pausing and taking time to thank Him for what we are seeing and experiencing around us, we too might find deeper communion with Him like Adam and Eve had, or may find songs of praise and worship flowing to Him from our hearts like David did.
Let us take some time and ‘see’ what happens when we do. Let us let our thanksgiving slow us down enough to drink deeply of the overflowing cup He gives us, Psalm 23:5. It may be that in the past we have been in too much of a hurry to hear His whispers of love or notice the gifts that come to us from His loving heart.
