Cranberry Hootycreeks and Sacrifice

What am I bid for this lovely, mouthwatering plate of cookies? For Christmas last year, my daughter received a jar of dry cookie ingredients with instructions on what to add to make these delicacies called cranberry hootycreeks. (Whoever came up with the strange name, I have no idea, but I’m glad someone came up with the recipe!)

Along with basic cookie dough ingredients, the cookies contain dried cranberries, chopped pecans, white morsels, and oatmeal. They are delicious, and they are a temptation! However, I’ve been “good for goodness sake” in my healthy eating plan, so I decided to bake a batch. After working two of the confections into my eating plan today, I felt I was really sacrificing by not having the three more I wanted right then, plus a few more this evening.

Did I say “sacrifice”? Ha! I hardly know the meaning of the word, and most of my family and friends would say the same. However, I know where we can go to find those who are intimately acquainted with the meaning of the term:

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” (Galatians 4:4).

Notice the word, “sent”. God the Father sacrificed greatly to send His only Son - the One with whom He had experienced intimate and perfect fellowship since before time began - into this sin-cursed world. And this Son, who was welcomed to planet earth by some humble humans and a bunch of smelly farm animals, would ultimately pay the greatest sacrifice. Listen to the heart-cry of our Lord Jesus as He faced the temporary suspension of His Father’s fellowship at the time of His crucifixion:

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’” (Matthew 26:36-39).

“Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:45-46).

It was for me. It was for you. That we, undeserving as we are, might experience LIFE…abundant and eternal, and all the grace-gifts that accompany it. Shall we pause to praise Him?

“O, come let us adore Him, Christ the LORD!”

Best wishes from lefthandrightbrain:)

Thankful for the Little Things

“Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us
with benefits…” Psalm 68:19a

I’m kinda slow. Sometimes I don’t notice the simple blessings God showers on me daily. Perhaps I’m too busy, or my spiritual radar is off-track. I really do want to be more thankful, so I’m going to ask God to make me cognizant of things to thank Him for – big or small.

“Small” would describe one blessing that brought a smile today. It was the size of a satsuma; actually, it was a satsuma. And not just one, but, as you see in the photo, clusters of the tempting fruit, literally dripping with sweetness.

I had stopped to join some friends for some walking exercise, and as the group readied to leave, my friend asked if I liked satsumas; someone had dropped off a large bag of them. Since I’ve been trying to eat healthier, fruits and veggies are replacing an overabundance of starchy carbs, fats and sweets on my plate. And satsumas rank up toward the top as fruity faves!

Putting them away, I thought of other simple pleasures of the day: having a nice, warm bed to arise from this morning, a clear mind to sort through the activities of the day, lunch with our senior adults at church, a heating pad to ease my aching back this afternoon, and a pair of dry socks and a cup of steamy coffee to enjoy after being in-and-out of the rain for most of the day.

Admittedly, none of these ranks up there with winning the grand prize in a contest you’d forgotten you’d entered, but they are things for which we can – and should - thank and praise God. Can’t you imagine Him smiling when He sees our pleasure in such small favors? He delights in arranging them and presenting them to us. And it’s all because He loves us so!

Maybe my “thanksgiving” should turn into “thanks-living”…copying God’s loving nature by sharing things with others, just as my friend did with me. God, the great example-giver, patterns the way. I’ve but to take up the mantle and follow.

Best wishes from lefthandrightbrain:)