The Gift

This post may contain affiliate links. By purchasing a product through an affiliate link, I make a small commission – at no cost to you. Which in return validates to my family the few hours I spend staring at a computer screen in a day . See Disclosure for more info.

I woke up this morning with every intention to write about something else.

Then……I read my devotional. Funny how God can get our attention.

I have the pleasure of having the house to myself this morning.  This is a very rare occurrence.  My little bug is out with her dad and my teenager of course is at school.

Getting The Day Started Right

Then it hit me, I can start the day off right and actually really take my time and dive into the word and read my daily devotionals without hurrying through or having my attention divided among other things.

So, I sat in prayer and asked for guidance, insight and understanding before I dug in. 

Then just like that, while I was reading along, something hit!

You know what I mean?  When you are reading along and then something seems to resonate more so than any other part of the text.

So here it is:

The Message

“God gave you this day and designed it especially with you in his mind.  He has a plan for you every single day of your life that always includes a liberal dose of praise.  If you want the assurance that you are participating in God’s will for your life on a daily basis, it is vital that you start your day with praise, that you fill it with worship and that you end it with thanksgiving.”

Which goes along with part of the scripture that it had on the next page:

This is the day the LORD had made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms 118:24)

Maybe, if you’re like me, you have read and seen and heard that scripture a thousand times.  But, with reading the text before that, it took a whole new meaning to me.

It says to me: You opened your eyes this morning because I, your God, wanted you to and I LET you.  I have a purpose for you today.  You need to be here, you are supposed to be here.  You are not supposed to wonder around aimlessly.  Someone needs you.  I have things for you to do, see, and experience.  There are people for you to help.  This is not just another ordinary day.  Just because you were here yesterday and all the days before does not mean that all the days in the future will automatically be given to you.

Every time I have felt down in the dumps or in a bad mood or lazy, I have lost sight of my purpose that day. I lost sight of how it truly is a gift.

We are only human and we get caught up in everything pulling us every different direction.  It is so easy to lose focus on why we are here in the first place.  Sometimes we don’t even know why that is, but that’s okay because God does. 

A Call To Action

Where would your kids, husband, co-workers, students, neighbors, mother, father, grandparents, friends, church family, be without you?  You are making a difference in someone’s life whether it is obvious or not, you have to trust that there’s a reason God woke you up today.

Sometimes it seems so profound that it is hard to fully process what it means or how much we are LOVED by our creator!

More so than not we deny the fact that today is any different. This denial keeps us from appreciating that today is a GIFT. We let our depression, anger, anxiety, sin, and blah blah attitude, dictate our day, our month, our year and our life. 

Meanwhile, God is still waking us up, hoping for something different and something better for us.  For us to finally get it.  For us to jump onto the path he had laid out the whole time!

His love and patience are overwhelming and more than our minds can process and definitely more than we deserve. Yet there he is in all his grace and love, just waiting and giving you one more shot day after day.  Until he won’t anymore.  Until your story is done.

I hope this message laid on my heart today touches someone else the way it did me.

Will you seize the day?  Can you recognize that the air in your lungs right now is a gift?

Thank God for waking you up today.  Express your gratitude. Our Father loves that!