Thankful Thursday # 21

"We become what we think about all day long."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's Thursday--and thanks to Iris at Grace Alone ... women all over the world have a chance to meet via the Internet and share what we're thankful for. It's always a delight to visit other women's blogs and read their TT lists. I find myself smiling and thinking: Oh, I'm thankful for that too! My TT list grows longer as I add more and more reasons to be thankful. I guess gratitude begets gratitude.

Iris is thankful for her 5 senses this week--and all the things she see, touch, taste, smell and hear. And, spinning off in a totally different direction, her post made me thankful for the intangible things in my life. The things I can't see, touch, taste, smell and hear--and sometimes take for granted. I'm thankful for:

• Grace--God's grace is the opposite of Law. I think of Law as a confining fence made up of all the dos an don'ts that crowd me, surround me, box me in. Grace is wide open spaces that allow me to spiritually breathe and be who God made me to be. (Romans 5:2 MSG)
• Forgiveness--I don't think people can truly understand forgiveness. We operate more from a "You owe me" mentality. God shows us what true forgiveness looks like--offering it before we even ask for it, before we even know we need it. He knows the true sacrifice that forgiveness requires because it looks like his son.
• Reconciliation--There are a lot of amazing concepts in the Bible, but reconciliation is my favorite. Reconciliation: Enemies being made friends. I know God offers us salvation. I know he offers us eternal life. I know he justifies us and sanctifies us. But when I think about the truth that he reconciled me to him--then I feel his arms around me.
• Relationship--I know what a relationship is when I'm in one. I know what a relationship is when it's been broken and I ache somewhere so deep in my heart I don't know if it can ever be reached, ever be healed. But relationships are intangible in so many ways. They are born in hearts and lived out through trust and hope and love and forgiveness. Scripture says we are made in the image of God. Well, he must be a God of relationships because we certainly are people made for relationships.
• Hope--Sometimes hope doesn't make sense. When you're sitting in the midst of heartache and discouragement and you have real reason to give up--there it is...hope. You finding it--maybe the tiniest ember in your heart--and you realize you still believe that life could get better. Or someone comes along and sits down beside you and wraps their arms around you--and holds out hope to you. Offering to share their hope. Hope is a miraculous intagible.

May you find many, many reasons--tangible and intangible--to be thankful today!