Thursday, November 24, 2016

The Layers of Thanksgiving

Open the day with thanks
as you shrug back the curtains into the view.
Stop for a moment, remain.

Peel back the layers of thanksgiving:

1. everything beautiful in your past to be grateful for.

Delve deeper and you find:

2. the painful things that have shaped your life for good.

Go into a new layer and you find:

3. the small, seemingly insignificant things that make a difference.

Deeper again, peel off another layer:

4. gratitude for the present moment.

Then you become thankful for:

5. the patience you learn through irritations.

6. the challenging people who teach you to love and forgive.

7. the big things you often take for granted.

Then you discover thanks for:

8. the best that is yet to come.

The emotion of gratitude takes over
and you realise the layers won't ever stop,
because at the ever-unveiling heart of thanksgiving you find,
something invaluable:

9. the spirit of contentment.

Jenneth Graser


Photography - Guido Mieth










4 comments:

  1. Oh my Jenneth. This is incredible. Tonight after a hard day the thanks won't come, but then I know this layer is just stuck. Lord teach me forgiveness. Thank you for this message.

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    1. Thank you so much Lisa 💕 I'm sorry for your trying day! Yes, it has been for me a year of working through forgiveness in areas. "And so we know and rely on the love of God." 💗

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  2. Oh the painful thanksgiving grown out of our hard circumstances like water finally springing from a rock! Life comes forth from testing and trials, gifts of grace are honed in dark places of affliction. Thank you, Jenneth, for not shying away from all the layers, revealing each one as a beautiful thing to be appreciated to the full. A painful truth at times but one we cannot ignore. Bless you for this treasure and encouraging us to mine for our own. xo

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    1. Thank you Joy for wise insights and encouragements flowing through! I so appreciate! It has been a year in some large areas for me of finding God in difficulties, and yes it is a painful truth but then we find bit by bit the surrender and trust opening the way, blessings friend 💖

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