Thankful Thursday, Take 130

"Gratitude honors God. Gratitude is the echo of grace as it reverberates through the hollows of the human heart. Gratitude is the unashamed acceptance of a free gift and the heartfelt declaration that we cherish what we cannot buy. Therefore gratitude glorifies the free grace of God and signifies the humility of a needy and receptive heart."
(John Piper, "Proud People Don't Say Thanks")

This proud person is seeking to mortify pride by humbly thanking God for so many things she cannot buy, including:

• kisses from Elijah
• the delight of watching Elijah exuberantly greet Steve when he comes home from work
• gorgeous late-summer weather
• the privilege of interceding for others
• millions of nerve endings on the skin
• the blessing of sleeping through the night...I SO do not miss the newborn stage...
• the fact that I do not serve an angry, capricious god; or a cold, aloof, indifferent god; or a morose and brooding, not-in-total-control god...but a HAPPY God who invites me to share in His joy!
• giving John Piper that insight to write about, and giving me the ability to read and understand and celebrate it
• mercifully receiving my dish-scrubbing and diaper-changing and blog-writing and laundry-folding and book-reading as spiritual acts of worship