I know it’s not usual for me to write on Sundays Lord, but so much has happened over the last few days that I wanted to share with You while the events were still fresh in my mind. It’s been an awesome weekend, and I’m very thankful for all You’ve Blessed me with.
It all began Friday night with the launching of our “Dinner and Drinks on the Deck” evening get-togethers. This is something we started last year, and ended up having around 15 of them over the course of the spring and summer. They’re informal cookouts attended by family and friends on Friday evenings where everyone brings something to share, and we provide the grilled food and snacks. The adults get to relax, sit around the fire pit and wind down from the work week while the kids all get to burn off some steam together. It’s a wonderful way to kick off the weekend, and this past Friday went extremely well. In fact, we’ve already had quite a few inquiries about next weekend. 🙂
Saturday morning, Shannon went and taught violin lessons in town and with the help of a good friend I did some heavy-duty scrubbing of our master bathroom. It had been far too long since I’d had the opportunity to clean and disinfect it thoroughly, and it was satisfying to see it all sparkling clean and smelling fresh. My words to You from Thankful Thursday came immediately back to mind!
Saturday evening I dropped the kids off at one of their friends’ house for a sleepover visit, while Shannon and I got to enjoy a “date night” out. We met up with some good friends for a fun dinner, then headed out to a local party for some dancing and socializing. While we love our children dearly, the opportunity to get out as a couple now and again helps us to “recharge our batteries” and focus on the intimate bond we’re Blessed to have between us. Saturday night was a great time, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Early Sunday, Shannon headed off to play viola at a wedding with the other ladies in her quartet while I got an unheard-of morning to sleep in a bit, and have some “quiet time” relaxing and communing with You. The boys went to church with the family they had stayed with, and had a wonderful time at Sunday School and participating in the worship service. I picked them up shortly afterwards, and we headed out to have lunch and spend the day hiking and shooting photos nearby. It was a bit overcast today, but the temperature was perfect and we managed to get time to walk both out at Blackbird State Forest and then about a half-hour away on the sands of Woodland Beach. I love spending these moments with them, and each new excursion we take together brings us closer to each other, and to You.
Here are some of the photos I shot today that made me smile Father:
The boys paused for this shot while we were walking down one of the many nature trails in Blackbird Forest.
Always the adventurer, Aidan forges ahead of us, setting the pace.
Jonathan’s photography skills have improved markedly over the last year. I’ve really enjoyed teaching him about lighting and composition, and he’s really having fun seeing what he can do with the camera.
This little fellow was being harassed by a group of other ducks and was just frazzled beyond words. I loved the expression and attitude he was exuding and was Blessed to catch this shot.
All in all Father, it was the best weekend we’ve had in a long time and I thank You from the bottom of my heart. You Bless my family and I in so many ways Lord, and I am very deeply grateful for Your Presence and Guidance in our lives.
Heavenly Father, once again I thank You for a wonderful, relaxing weekend with family and friends. Please guide my decisions and actions in the coming week to best serve Your Will, and to share Your Light with those around me. Amen.
Well Lord, once again we’ve come to that day of the week where I attempt to focus my thanks to You on one particular thing. When I first started following this “theme day”, I thought it would be the easiest conversation of the week, simply because I’m Blessed in so many ways that I’d have an infinite list of things to be thankful for. Funny enough, that ended up being the reason that Thursdays can be so difficult for me; too many Blessings to pick just one! 🙂
In today’s case, when I started to contemplate all the things I’ve been thankful for this week a seemingly bizarre one popped into my head. I shook it off and tried to think of other, more important things but it kept coming back to the front of my mind. I’m really not sure what prompted this one Father, but I’ll throw it out as long as you promise not to laugh:
Today Father, I’m thankful for Chlorine Bleach.
Ok, ok… Even I chuckle when I say this one. Laughs are ok.
I use bleach on pretty much a daily basis Lord. I guess it’s not as much the chemical itself, but the known bacterial and viral destruction it leaves in it’s wake. From caring for a number of relatives who were seriously ill, very old pets with “control issues”, raising little boys with all the associated grubbiness (as my wife Shannon reminds me regularly, boys are gross… lol) and all the time we spent with Jonathan’s immune system being nonexistent I’ve come to rely on bleach as my “germ killing” solution to a great many problems.
I use it on our bathroom fixtures…
I use it in the kitchen sink…
I put some in the rinse water for our carpet cleaner…
I use it in the laundry rinse cycle…
I power-wash the house with a solution of it…
And the list goes on and on…
While there are absolutely many more important things I could praise You for Lord, this is what was in my heart. No clue why, it just was. Therefore Father, I thank You for the cleanliness that You bring to my life through this flexible and powerful chemical. It helps to keep my home cleaner and my family less subject to infectious organisms and in my book, that makes it a significant Blessing.
As You’re aware Father, I’ve struggled with high blood pressure for quite some years now. It’s one of the few true health issues I’ve had, but has always been reasonably well controlled through medication. Therefore, other than the ritual of taking my pill each day I’ve for the most part been able to forget that the problem exists.
Until a month ago.
Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, Shannon and I lost our health care insurance effective the beginning of April. We’ve been researching a number of options to correct it, but so far none have been found that fits our needs or our budget. Thankfully, Shannon’s medications are all generics and therefore reasonable to purchase without the insurance, however my blood pressure prescription is not which makes it a bit expensive. On top of that, our Primary Care Physician closed his practice at the end of February, so my options for looking into alternate medications are extremely limited. Weighing all these items in my head, I therefore made a decision to try and go without the blood pressure pills for a while, and see how I made out.
This was not one of my better ideas Father.
Over the course of the next couple weeks, my BP slowly began to rise and I started reverting to the pre-medication days where ringing in my ears, headaches and uncomfortable chest pains were the norm. I of course prayed for relief Lord, oh I prayed, but the symptoms continued to get worse.
Then I realized Father, You’d already given me relief, I’d just decided to stop taking advantage of it.
Your solution for me hadn’t changed Father, I was simply trying to second guess You by looking for an “easier” option. Just because the remedy was a more difficult path than it used to be didn’t mean it still wasn’t the proper choice. As the Apostle Paul reminded us in First Corinthians:
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
Needless to say, I went and bought the medication and started taking it last Saturday. It’ll take a week or so to level me out again, but I’ve already started feeling somewhat better.
Heavenly Father, please help me keep focused on Your Blessings and true plan for me each day. Guide my decisions to honor Your Will, and direct my gaze to not seek answers outside Your Wishes. Amen.
You know Father, throughout the years I’ve been in business I’ve had an amazingly diverse group of clients. In most cases, we have an excellent rapport with our customers; they know we’ll do what’s necessary to satisfy their IT needs, and that even when things don’t go exactly as planned we’re in their corner and will make sure things are taken care of. We work diligently on their behalf, and the great majority of them appreciate what we do for them.
And then there are those clients…
I’ve decided Lord, that there are some folks that no matter what you do, you simply can’t please. Being that I pride myself on solving problems for people and maintaining an upbeat, moral and ethical relationship with them, that tiny contingent of customers causes me the bulk of my upset. Driving back from a job site this afternoon, I was playing back an interaction with one of those clients in my head, getting more and more frustrated that our efforts kept getting twisted and maligned and that no matter what we did for them, it was never enough, or appreciated.
“Pray for them.” I heard drift across my thoughts…
Ouch… You certainly know how to make me stop and think Father. In focusing on my frustrations, I allowed myself to forget Your teachings:
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” – Matthew 5:44-45 (NIV)
I’ve come to the conclusion Lord, that one of Your intentions for prayer is to allow You to “stretch” our spirits in directions our earthly selves would likely not have taken. I think it’s quite probable that those people I was allowing to poison my spirit desperately need Your Presence, and therefore deserve my prayers.
Thank You for the reminder and the lesson Father. I’ll be working on this more diligently going forward.
Wow Father, what a long and tiring day this was. I started the day at a client’s site at 7:45 this morning, and finally drove into my driveway at 8:45 tonight. I’m wiped.
Heading home this evening, I was driving along some back roads while Andrew Peterson’s “Counting Stars” CD massaged my mental temperament following the day’s toils. It was a dark and clear evening, and the stars seemed especially bright away from the street lights and incursions of blatant civilization. My mind drifted a bit, and I found myself pondering how much I actually enjoy driving at night; soaking in the Stillness and clarity of the draped surroundings.
And then track 9 started up…
It always fascinates me Father, how You manage to guide my thoughts and link them up with external reinforcements to get my attention. In this case, it came in the form of a song on the CD called “In the Night My Hope Lives On”. From my own thoughts of how in the Stillness of night I find comfort in Your Presence, this ballad reached in and awoke my spirit. What an amazingly powerful song this is Lord:
The lyrics are truly wonderful Father… such a potent description of the Hope we find in Your Love for us.
“I can see the crowd of men retreating
As he stands between the woman and their stones
And if mercy in his holy heart is beating
Then in the night my hope lives on
I remember how they scorned the son of Mary
He was gentle as a lamb, gentle as a lamb
He was beaten, he was crucified, and buried
And in the night, my hope was gone
But the rulers of the earth could not control Him
They did not take his life–he laid it down
All the chains of death could never hope to hold him
So in the night my hope lives on”
What a perfect way to end my day Lord; focusing on the Hope You so freely gifted us with. And in the night, my hope lives on.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day.
The boys paused for this shot while we were walking down one of the many nature trails in Blackbird Forest.
Always the adventurer, Aidan forges ahead of us, setting the pace.
Jonathan’s photography skills have improved markedly over the last year. I’ve really enjoyed teaching him about lighting and composition, and he’s really having fun seeing what he can do with the camera.
This little fellow was being harassed by a group of other ducks and was just frazzled beyond words. I loved the expression and attitude he was exuding and was Blessed to catch this shot.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day. 
