Happy Thanksgiving

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to stay true to form. Every Thanksgiving I like to take the time to reflect on the things that I am grateful for. This year, today actually, as I was driving down the country road heading home, I saw three trees next to each other. One a deep, burnt orange, the other a bright yellow and the third an evergreen 🌲. All of them front and center of a pale grey background. It was very pleasing to the eyes, so much so that I decided to stop and take a picture. Now, if I was painting the picture I would probably not add in the electric pole that was firmly mounted right in the middle of the beautiful trees! Just so you know…I’ve got gobs of gratefulness for electricity especially now that the temperatures are dropping.  But upon witnessing the beauty of these trees and the outlying electric pole, I thought, this is just like God to create a metaphor right here, right now! “Thank you, Lord, that you care so much about us that you painted this beautiful picture of multi colors of trees for whoseve’s eyes pass this way and thank you for this electric pole……that…. well..God how can I be thankful for this electric pole that is littering the canvas that you created just for me in this moment?”

The trees and electric pole got me to thinking. 🤔 As is in every season of life there are things to be grateful for, beautiful things, the obvious that we don’t have to think on for too long. Then there are other things, things that we might see as challenging, or ugly. Things that we would rather do without or avoid altogether if possible. I’m myself no exception.

Metaphorically this has been a recent “electric pole” on our family canvas:

This year has brought some financial challenges, things unexpected that we had to address head on. Our air conditioning unit decided that it was extremely tired and took a permanent time of rest💤. My thinking was, “well we can put it off for a while because we don’t need air conditioning for at least a half of year”. I didn’t realize that the heat and air unit were one in the same🤭. I guess we need it after all! My family can testify that me and being cold can bring tears quickly. Another unexpected expense was Sara’s vehicle, which also decided that it too needed a long rest…after several short rests with multiple tow truck interventions🚛….at night…in the rain! Thankful for Glenpool Wrecker Service

What to do…. what to do? With some planning and rearranging, Chris and I were able to put our heads together, (easy to do since he has such a beautiful head)👱🏻‍♂️, and come up with a solution. We decided to put my truck up for sale and trust Gods’ provision.

The metaphoric beautiful “arrangement of trees” on our family canvas:

Within a few days of searching, we found cute zippy car for Sara, drove to Perry, Ok where it was listed and wouldn’t you know it, Chris knew the family of the guy helping us very well. In fact, Sara and I listened to them reminisce for some time before driving that cute thing home. The day after we purchased Sara’s car I was talking to my precious mother-in-law (Judy) who told us that a friend of her and Larry’s was selling their vehicle for just the right price. We went to look at it the next day and met 2 new souls that I truly enjoyed visiting with as we shared stories for close to an hour. The car they were selling also just so happened to be my favorite Make and my favorite color. SOLD! Next was selling my truck. Within 2 weeks of being on the market we sold my truck to a hard-working 17 yr old boy who drove away with a big smile on his face. We found out that this boy had recently lost his dad and was able to use some of the inheritance that his Dad left him for the truck. Chris, with his big ol’ heart, sold the truck for less than we had planned but even with that adjustment we came out of all that trading with ZERO debt! A gigantic reason to be Thankful!  

My Heavenly Father provides so much beauty. Just as the unexpected financial setbacks weren’t a splash of color in and of themselves to our story, we were and are now able to see the full canvas. Our initial “electric pole” of problems became an assortment of beautifully colored trees, or rather, an arrangement of people that weren’t in our lives or a part of our story before, but now they are. The electric pole was just a small part of the larger painting that involved everything in it as presented; the good and the obstacles to overcome! I am Thankful for the larger painting 🖼️or also called The Bigger Picture!

“And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁