I
am moved to tears of joy during the multitude of times that God
"hugs" me all throughout the day. Several times each hour, He gives
me a thought, reminds me of an event, and fills my garden with butterflies -
thanks to my "gardening" angels who provided my flowers.
He
constantly arranges the numbers on the clock to give me a message when I glance
at it. Numbers have meanings that apply to our life. See this post:
http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/introduction.html
At
other times, He causes a heart shaped leaf to flutter down at my feet, places a
praying mantis on my window screen, or has a flower growing up through a crack in
the sidewalk when I pass by. He loves each of us in our own way.
His
hugs come in various sizes and shapes through music, nature, people, neighborhood
happenings, work-related events, divine appointments that He arranges for us,
etc. If we are too busy to notice, we miss these loving incidences that He
planned just for us.
God
pursues our love and attention all day long. We rarely recognize His hugs,
however, because we are too busy focusing on the mundane tasks at work, home,
church, community and in our social calendar. We live for our own dreams and
goals instead of His (Ephesians 2:10).
If
we pay attention, He enables us to hear and feel His presence in our life
through His Spirit within us. We can experience the joy, peace and blessings of
living, moving and having our being in
him alone, and we actually notice His immense loving kindness (Acts 17:28).
Once
Christ is our whole life, glorious times of intimacy with God's Trinity are
more and more frequent (Colossians 3:3-4). Of course, we do not neglect family,
work, church and community outreach, but we accomplish all of this through
God's guidance.
Prayer:
Father
God, we cannot fathom that You, the God of the entire universe, care about each
and every one of us so intimately that You will give us meaningful hugs
throughout the entire day and night. The immensity of Your love for us overwhelms
us with joy and peace.
Remind
us that You have a determined purpose and wondrous plans for the life of every
one of Your dear children. We are extensions of Christ on this earth, because
He abides within us (John 14:12). Help us to focus on spiritual matters rather
than carnal, heavenly instead of earthly, and infinite thoughts and pursuits in
the place of finite ones (Galatians 5:15-25).
Thought
for the Day:
The
goal of the Christian life is to do everything, even including what we eat and
drink, for God's glory and according to the direction of His Holy Spirit within
us.
-
1 Corinthians 10:31; Galatians 5:25
