Ponder, Plan & Pray
Remember the lyric line from the Beatles; You say goodbye and I say Hello? Late December of every year that is exactly what we do.
Another year added to our lives. During this transition between December and January we tend to ponder the accomplishments and blessings from the past and plan detailed intentions for the future. I challenge you to take a little time and write down a list of blessings and memories from 2024. Make a mini-life review from this past year. A list of the good things or one that includes the sad things with lessons learned.
Let me share one amazing 2024 blessing that just happened over the Christmas holiday. My sister's memory is so keen. Earlier in the year I asked her if she could remember the meal blessing Grandpa prayed. Neither of us came close to retrieving that memory.
Patti Marie spent the Christmas holiday with family and one evening her brother asked her the same question I posed months before.
"Do you remember Grandpa's prayer?" And she didn't, at least not in that moment.
Later during mealtime prayer with family the exact words of grandpa's prayer struck Patti Marie. Interrupting the blessing with excitement and the need to capture the words, she not only wrote them down but recorded them.
What a 2024 gift for all of us to ponder.
A simple plan for the future is to consider prayers of thanks to God. Sometimes it may seem so routine to thank the Lord for our lives and our food. But Grandpa's routine meal blessing was so much more. It included repentance and also acknowledged the saving grace of God.
If only I could include the sincerity of his voice to go along with these words, you would love it more. Grandpa was a humble man and he prayed this prayer with meaning.
Our Father in heaven,
We thank you for all the many blessings in life.
Bless this food to it's intended use.
Forgive us our sins and in death save us.
These favors we ask in your name,
Amen
This is just one precious moment for me to remember from 2024. I have so many more. My list includes precious new friends I have met through Christian Writers for Life. Acceptance of stories in anthologies on Amazon. Answered prayers for friends who have gained health after bouts of COVID. The ability to support several different ministries including a little girl from another country. A husband who loves me despite all the crazy things I drag him into. My blessings list is lengthy and I definitely don't want to bore you.
When I consider the plans I have for the future, I look around at the wisdom phrases I have taped all around my desk.
Good writing is clear thinking made visible. (Came from a fortune cookie!)
"It isn't the great big pleasures that count the most;
it's making a great deal out of the little ones." (author Joan Webster)
Ponder all the accomplishments and love you have shared this past year.
Plan to enjoy your present as you plan your future.
I hope you realize the power of memory making as you pray with those around your table. Thank you for always lighting up my life with kindness and joy.
My prayer for you all is to know you are special, loved, and unique.
Love and thanks for a marvelous year together.
Blessings and of course prayers,
Donna
