Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day full of promise and peace. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How grateful are we as God’s children? Are we content and thankful or do we complain that we lack something or that someone has more than we do? Perhaps we all need a reality check each day to help us see if we have attitudes of ingratitude or envy in our hearts.
I sit at my desk in a warm apartment as I write, with a healthy body, a loving husband, plenty of food, and in a cozy robe. Quite different from the early pilgrims who suffered so much loss, hunger, cold, and sickness, and yet they paused to give thanks under less-than-ideal conditions; but were they perhaps filled with more gratitude than many of us? We must remember that we are not entitled but rather to receive what comes to us as a gift from the Lord.
The Lord loves to bless us but He also wants to know that we receive it from a grateful heart, just as we desire that from our own children. I hear so many grandparents say that they rarely get a thankyou from their grandkids, and one even gave their grandchild a nice van!
We can show our gratitude in many ways as described in Psalm 105 (Message), “Thank God! Pray to Him by name! Tell everyone you meet what He has done! Sing Him songs, belt out hymns, translate His wonders into music!..Keep your eyes open for God, watch for His works; be alert for signs of His presence.”
I read what Jim Robison wrote of what theologian Tadeusz Dajczer said, “A gift should be accepted with such detachment that at any given moment you could return it.”  This is a paradox and telling us that each time we receive a gift from God we are to be ready to return it. We are to hold it loosely and be willing to give it back to God at a moment’s notice. When we think of it, everything belongs to Him anyway.
I am reminded of a song, “Give thanks with a grateful heart/ Give thanks to the Holy One/ Give thanks because He has given Jesus Christ, His Son/ And now let the weak say, ‘I am strong’/ Let the poor say, ‘I am rich/ Because of what the Lord has done for us.’”
No matter what our present circumstances are and how much or how little we have, let us give thanks, especially for our spiritual blessings.
Challenge for today: Spend time throughout your day, lifting up prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy