I've been reading Brennan Manning's book "Ruthless Trust" lately. Time after time, he reminds me of what God is graciously doing in my life at the present moment--and for that ,Manning's been a good companion as of late.
I wanted to pass along something from the book in light of it being Thanksgiving and all. Here's a quotation from Henri Nouwen that Manning includes in the chapter, "The Way of Gratefulness." Maybe as a way of saying thanks, you might pick up a copy of Manning's book, read it, then express to God how grateful you are for the life He's giving you.
"To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives--the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections--that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God."
Happy Thankgiving.
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Wow - thanks, Andy. I started reading Ruthless Trust this summer and somehow never finished it but I'm newly inspired to get into it again.
It is good to be reminded that we should be grateful for all of our life - the good and the bad. That's especially true as my job is being weighed in light of my past. I may be without a job by the end of the week. But I believe God brought me here for a reason - just maybe a shorter length of time than I hoped for. Now I need to learn to be grateful for everything in my past - and I must admit, I'm not there yet. The good news is that my future is in God's hands. whew... Thanks for the reminder on gratefulness, Andy!!
Emily, you're always welcome in Toledo. You know that. Btw, I met another woman physicist out here--her name is Kathy and she helped out with the bookfair last two weeks. What are the odds of meeting two female physicists a few months apart?
Okay-Loved the post, something I know I need to do. I was just talking last night with Rick about how when I get anxious I can feel it physically. Brady happens to be pretty sick at the moment and that makes me anxious. Rick said he was sorry and I told him not to feel sorry-that it was all me and a lack of trust that God knew what He was doing-even more than I did!
It is hard to be thankful that my baby is sick-but I do know that He is holding Him and me.
On a side note-my best friend from college is also a red-headed physicist, name Cathy-with a "C". Just thought that was interesting.
Lisa, what's with all these physicists? It's like they're trying to take over the world.
Shhhh - it's supposed to be a secret plan to take over the world! :-)
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