Thankfulness

What does it mean to be thankful?

          This time of year we really focus on that concept.  We sit around a table, stuff our faces, wipe our mouths with pretty fabric napkins, and reflect on what we are thankful for.  We right lists and read children's essays and turkey worksheets.  But what are we really thankful for?  What is important to thank God for when we pray?

     Children are so innocent in their writings on thankfulness.  They state things like zebras and pumpkin pie.  Some mention friends, parents, and teachers.  Sadly, some have little to mention.  

     As adults, we tend to be thankful for things like our kids, our spouse, our jobs.  Some of us feel as if there is little to be thankful for sometimes. When we are asked what we are thankful for, we sometimes focus on what we DON'T have to be thankful for instead.  

     I would like to think of thankfulness as something less complicated. I would like to take off that pressure of having to think of big things that we are happy and content about.  I have always thought that, "Hope is all around us, even in the smallest of details."

     I aim to be thankful for EVERYTHING that is good, and even the bad stuff too (kickin' my feet, holding my breath.) ;)

I am thankful for all of the small things too, and it always seems to make my days better.  You never know what little thing... what little gift, God can present to you, that gives you a smile and moment of peace, and sometimes changes our way of thinking.  The smallest thing like, finding your lost keys, or not spilling your morning coffee all over your clean shirt, or noticing a cloud shaped like a heart...  

The smallest of gifts can be the greatest of blessings!

      So this Thanksgiving, and every day, remember to keep it simple, looking for not only big blessings, but those small ones too.  Know that God has a plan for you and you have so much to be thankful for!  He created you, he loves you, and His love will never fail!

Xoxoxo and Happy Thanksgiving, 

Samantha

Inspiration Saturday!

xoxoxo,

Samantha SE

Love First

Lately, God's been showing me many lessons.  Most of the lessons to be learned are about LOVE. I have been realizing more and more how I should treat those who I care for; putting their needs ahead of my own and really showing what love means. Of course I go to I Corinthians 13 for guidance.  I feel He has been calling to me, telling me to put LOVE FIRST.
To simplify, put 
GOD FIRST
OTHERS SECOND
YOURSELF THIRD
~A motto I learned at summer camp long ago, but being a wife and a mom, this becomes so much more to me. 

We usually don't learn lessons the easy way.  Unfortunately we learn the hard way, through difficult circumstances and many tears.
Sometimes we have clear moments where things just fall into place, but most of the time it's in the little details that He shows us whats most important.

I'm no prophet, no counselor, no woman wise beyond her years.
Just a wife, just a mom, just a believer...
but that is all I need to be.
All I really need to know is to put 
LOVE FIRST!
All you need to know is
LOVE FIRST!

I always say that God has a plan for us.
I believe it, I know it, I will try to follow His lead daily, in big details and small.
I don't know what that plan is, but I know...

LOVE FIRST

1 Corinthians 13New International Version (NIV)

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I hope this has blessed you!

Xoxoxo,

Samantha

Fall At The Lake ~ God's Gift

      To me there is no prettier time at the lake than fall time.  Taking the camera and noticing God's beauty in the changing seasons makes for a great day!  Wild life is awake and active.  The air is crisp and refreshing.  The colors are vivid and rustic.  The ripples in the water shimmer like diamonds in the sunshine.
God is a glorious artist and His works can not be fathomed!  

Here are some photos of a day at the lake...

All of the above photos were taken by my son Joe, who at the age of 12, is already an amazing photographer.

Thank you God
    for your beautiful gift of creation! 

Xoxoxo,

Samantha