We may not like to admit it, but there's a part of us that can, on occasion, rear its ugly head.  It's an attitude of  "What have you done for me lately?!" We expect things.  We may even begin to demand them.  There are parts of our culture that increasingly operate from a place of expectations and demands - "What have you done for ME lately?!"  This kind of mindset and "soulset" can creep in quietly, under the radar, and then suddenly become the norm of our experience.  

Wednesday, I looked up from my desk and saw a book I used to use regularly for daily devotions, "A Year With Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Daily Meditations from His Letters, Writings, and Sermons."  I was strangely drawn to the book, took it off the shelf and began to read.  Bonhoeffer was discussing how we come together as the Church, the Body of Christ, and how we live together as community.  A fundamental characteristic of Christian community has to be one of thanksgiving.  We are to live, worship, and serve together from a place of thankfulness.

It makes all the difference in the world how we come to church.  Do we come with demands and unrealistic expectations or do we come humbly from a place of thanksgiving and gratitude?  Bonhoeffer writes, "we come not as those who make demands, but as those who receive thankfully."  (Life Together, p. 36) We don't come to church saying, "What have you done for me lately?!"  Rather, we come with an attitude of gratitude and a spirit of thankfulness. 

Bonhoeffer goes on to say, "Only those who give thanks for the little things receive the great things well."  (Life Together, p. 37)   How we receive the "little things" says a lot, and more than we may think. Do we offer thanks for the mundane things of life, the things of the day in - day out routine of our existence?  Or, have we grown to expect those "little things," even going so far as to demand them?

God blesses us with "little things" everyday.  Yet, at times, we can grow so accustomed to those blessings that we no longer see and experience them for the true beauty and gift they are.  This day I encourage you (And me!)  to give thanks for the "little things."  The abundance of God's goodness all around us that can so often go unnoticed.  

One orientation shows us a world that is lacking, scarce and will continually leave us wanting and unsatisfied.  The other orientation opens for us a world of blessing, grace, love and abundance.  A world where God is present, alive, and active.  I know in which world I would rather live!  What about you?  The funny thing is...it's the same world -- it's how we approach it and experience it that makes the difference.  One way demands, the other gives thanks.  

Thank you God for all the little things!!