Gratitude: The Well-Worn Road To Peace

image via hellobee.com

I read this passage from Jesus Calling yesterday, and thought it spoke volumes for today, as we remember to thank the Eternal One for all He has given: 

(page 340 // november 21st)

This passage in Jesus Calling speaks of gratitude, which brings about His peace. And what Sarah Young speaks of in this passage is so very true: it is utterly impossible to spend too much time thanking and praising the Eternal One. Yes, this I have (recently) learned.

You know, I've only just begun to learn what this art of the eucharisteo life truly means. At the beginning of this year, when I first chose my One Word I thought that God would just stop letting the worry bombard me so badly. I honestly thought that THAT was what the true meaning...the equivalent...of what peace truly was/is. But then at the end of the Summer, in August, the Lord started revealing to me that peace was Him, not just an absence of worry in my life. It was after that epiphany in August that I decidedly learned to know God and peace, and how they beautifully intertwine together. Peace, indeed, is not a thing. Rather it is a Holy Spirit, a Slain and Risen-again Son, and our Eternal One. Over the last couple of months I've also (slowly) discovered, through counting my gifts one by one, that gratitude, above all else, draws me closer to the wellspring that is Christ, and coming closer to Christ ultimately grants me that peace that this restless heart has so desired for so very long. 

Really, it is quite funny to me how nothing ever comes about in just one step, or that answers don't just fall into our laps. No, true growth in our faith-walk comes through the repetitive motions in life lessons learned, through trials, through the mundane days, through tattered threads strengthened, through the eucharisteo life and sometimes even through becoming the silence. Oh, and of course I've also learned that He brings peace through the restlessness too! And we can learn none of these things without first knowing and surrendering to the Eternal One. 

Yes, I have come to learn this year that all the tattered threads become entwined, stillness and silence aren't so bad after all, and eventually they lead to knowing the Eternal One on a much deeper level. This I hold dear, near and true: Knowing the Eternal One brings about thanksgiving and thanksgiving brings about peace.

So, on this day I declare myself a Pilgrim of Peace, a journeyer into this sometimes foreign-to-me land of eucharisteo living. 
Will you join me today, friend, and begin to count gifts given?


// count the gifts, because peace is found through thanksgiving //



#186 
dear-heart friends, like the daring girl and the vintage soul, who are truly kindred spirits

#187 
sitting in momma's lap, holding fast my stomach, which aches from bouts of laughter

#188 
big bear hugs from my daddy after a long work week

#189
my Jehovah Shalom who has taught me to live out eucharisteo

#190
blogger friends who share their dear-heart life, written on e-paper

#191
the handsome man who holds my heart and calls me his bride-to-be

#192
my creative friend, the one who calms my restless spirit and sets my artsy side free

#193
my younger sister, the one who is everything I am not, and yet still loves me

#194
piano keys, which loose my inner stifled heartsong and pent up emotions 

#195
for family, both near and far, who come together to break bread and give thanks today

#196
my blog readers, who faithfully follow, comment, and minister to my restless soul




1 comment:

  1. You are on my list of blessings too, Sarah. So very much so. :)

    *squeal* #191!!!!!!!!!!!!! *double-squeal* GIRL! <3

    ReplyDelete

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