Alert and Present

Good afternoon, Loved Ones,

A Wednesday morning full of Coffee in the Street and Lucas at a soccer camp prevented me from my morning Hump Day gratitude discipline. Still good to give thanks even late in the day. Our text for the day is one of the lectionary passages for this Sunday.

Isaiah 43:18-21 (The Message)
"Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say 'Thank you!'
—the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.

Is it curious to you that the ones singled out as giving thanks in this passage are the coyotes and buzzards? It would seem that whatever new thing God is doing it is amazing enough to cause scavengers to pause and bow their heads. What new possibilities are emerging in our lives? Are we alert and present enough to be as ready with the "Thank Yous" as the wild animals are in the desert?

Thank you for dreams, both the daytime and nightime varieties that open up visionary possibilities for our world.
Thank you for youths who are naively and hopefully tilting toward tomorrow.
Thank you for days that give us all new opportunities to be present, to listen, to pay attention.
Thank you for teachers who help us to see things with new eyes.
Thank you for new roads God makes through the wildernesses of our lives.

Your turn. What's new for you? Gimme cinco!

Pastor Rick
http://gimmecinco.blogspot.com/