Abundance and Gratitude

Abundance

Just before the predicted hard frost on Saturday night, Kevin went out to the garden with an old banana box and came back with these treats. We already have peppers and tomatoes galore, so I was glad to find some vegetable lovers at our hymn sing Saturday evening. 

Every time I see something like this, I am amazed again at the grace of God, who made all these things to sustain us, to give us enjoyment, - and to bring Him glory. How can we not offer Him a heart of gratitude.  Look at the variety of color, shape, texture, and taste! For us? We who continually set our hearts on everything else but God?

Clockwise, from left: Thyme, Aloe, Lavender, Rosemary, Basil, Lavender, Oregano, Parsley

Most of these plants I've been able to winter over in the past - with the exception of basil. Bethany informed that the reason I had no success with my basil project last year is that basil is an annual. So parsley and rosemary must not be annuals?  I really need to look these things up. Most years, I dig up my herbs which flourish all summer in the garden and start to die bit by bit in the winter, but they just manage to limp along until spring - when I can set them outdoors once again. We'll see what happens this year.

Lionel and Tuppence will miss their windowseat, but they will definitely enjoy the newly-arrived 'salad bar.'

Tuppence, with fewer options at last year's salad bar

P.S. The hymn sing (last Saturday evening) was such a great time for friends to get together and praise God in song! I'm already looking at October's calendar...

♫♪

 Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Amen. 

***

 'But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.' - Romans 5:8-11

It's Not All About You

I came upon a quotation from Martin Luther and thought it was very relevant to the Christian who is going through feelings of failure in her Christian life and frustration at her own persistent shortcomings and sinfulness. I can't be the only one familiar with this situation, can I? 

Says Luther,

'A Christian is at once a sinner and a saint; he is wicked and pious at the same time. For so far as our persons are concerned, we are in sins and are sinners in our own name.


But Christ brings us another name, in which there is the forgiveness of sins, that for HIS sake sins are remitted and pardoned.


SO, both statements are true: There are sins, for the old Adam is not entirely dead as yet; yet the sins are not there. The reason is this:


For Christ's sake God does not want to see them.


I have my eyes on them. I feel and see them well enough. But there is Christ, commanding that I be told I should repent, that is, confess myself a sinner and BELIEVE the forgiveness of sins in His name.


For repentance, remorse, and knowledge of sin, though necessary, is not enough; Faith in the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ must be added. 


But where there is such a faith, God no longer sees any sins; for then you stand before God, not in your name but in Christ's name. He adorns you with grace and righteousness, although in your own eyes and personally you are a poor sinner, full of weakness and unbelief.'

***

Romans 5:20-21:
'...sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.'

It's comforting to be reminded that it's not all about our performance, but rather, what Christ has already done with His perfect life and atoning death on the Cross so that we might live, trusting in Him alone.

Author, Second Chance - A Tale of Two Puppies

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