December 31, 2024
I started this blog in the early morning of New Year's Eve Day, thinking about the Gratitude Jar lurking behind my behemoth Christmas cactus and the woman from my ladies’ Bible study who gave me the idea to do it. She planned to fill her jar with daily moments of thankfulness, and I was determined to join her. I had fun decorating the jar, cutting up colorful pieces of scrapbook paper, and thinking of cute things to write on a 2 x 2-inch square. But by the end of February, after illnesses, termite damage, faulty appliances, and a myriad of other struggles, the novelty faded.
The Stupid! Puzzle
The Stupid! puzzle was a photo of frustrating impossibilities. At a paltry 750 pieces, this monstrosity was a monochromatic picture of a city at night, with filtered light coming from streetlights and curtained windows in brownstone buildings. My hyper-focus tendencies pushed me through until I noticed a piece was missing. Tearing through the room like I lost my mind, I realized I had been beaten. In a final attempt at closure, I smeared liberal amounts of glue across the puzzle, took no photo to put on Facebook, and angrily slammed it into the trash can. Meanwhile, the Gratitude Jar sat sentinel at the corner of the table, looking a little hungry.
Intuitively, I knew that God was trying to teach me something, and I was having none of it. It was too easy to put my hands over my ears and justify my irrational anger. Oh, but for the love of God’s masterful timing. Because…
The Gratitude Jar
Now, six months later, I excitedly poured the contents of the Gratitude Jar onto the table. There it was, among the pretty pieces of colored paper (and oddly, Wintergreen Livesavers), the missing Stupid! Puzzle piece. A knowing laughter escaped deep from my lungs, and in a uniquely precious moment, I felt God’s love in His discipline. What he gave me was my next blog.
I spent the next hour savoring the words on those tiny pieces of paper like my first cup of morning coffee. Each piece was a tender reminder of all the good things that happened in 2024, a testament to God’s enduring faithfulness. In colorful ink and my own dramatic handwriting, I found the names of my family, my church, and ohmygoodness, Alaska.
Alaska- too big to be contained in the nine days that I actually spent there, took up the entirety of 2024. And you, my readers, were there for it. In eleven poorly edited, oftentimes rambling blogs, you followed my steps and my musings until the day I wrote my final recap on September 4, 2024.
Oh! You guys! My friends, my brothers-and-sisters in Christ, my Living Water Community Church- you (and my husband who took my frantic calls) are the reason that 665,000 square miles of Alaskan wilderness (not to mention the onslaught of a million hungry mosquitos) didn’t swallow me whole. Your words of encouragement in emails and texts are posted on my gratitude board just to remind me of who God chose to show His love to me. Kindness, patience, and love jump from this board like a Disney 3D animation, representing all of the indwelling, intricate, and Christ-centered relationships we’ve cultivated together, sparked only by the Spirit of God. It is too precious, too complex, to be contained in one word or a simple phrase.
I am completely overwhelmed by your grace.
I don’t know what 2025 will bring for us, but as I come to the end of my inductive study of Matthew, I know that God wants us to be ready. While the discord of believers is a ship that has already sailed, I challenge you and me to forge into 2025 with a mindfulness of unity through prayer and studying God’s word. And like the offerings of gratitude on tiny pieces of paper, I suggest we look for the little things that God places right in front of us, there for the taking.
From the bottom of my flawed and human heart, I thank you, the readers, for supporting this blog in a once inconceivable way. I thank my fellow writers for their faithfulness and vulnerability. And Lord, I ask you to bless the church leadership and staff that, through obedience to your Word, makes so many things possible, including this blog.
I can’t wait to see what we can do for God’s kingdom. Together.
Note to self - always look in the Thankfulness jar for the missing piece! You may find just what you are looking for!
Thanks Janet!