The temptation is always present, its slippery slope under foot ready to take you down when you are most unsuspecting. It has caught many a better man than me in its trap, so when I recognized and avoided it tonight, I gave extra thanks for the grace of God.
Sometimes I can hardly believe the life I've been given. This morning after prayers and reading, I did a little wiring in the garage while Linda was at her piano lesson. About 10:00 am, we loaded Emma into the backseat (actually, she jumped in quite excitedly), and headed to Churchville to visit my mother. We had a wonderful time, took her out to lunch, got caught in a torrential downpour, visited some more, and came home.
Linda had some preparation to do for her final exercise class tomorrow, so while she was handling those chores, I mowed the lawn. The 61 inch deck on that zero turn mower she is so afraid of took care of the entire 2 1/2 acres in less than an hour, including the time I spent unravelling the tarp I had covering the topsoil pile that I nicked as I passed by. Apparently I did better than my son who spent about twenty minutes untangling a garbage bag he ran over when he borrowed it last week. At least mine didn't wrap around the blades!
Inside at last, I finished the day with a half serving of the leftover strawberry shortcake Linda made for Sunday's dinner. Homemade biscuits, fresh strawberries, and real homemade whipped cream; if you hope to cash in on this, you better come over quick, because it's almost gone!
Here's the temptation: to be thankful for the gift while forgetting the Giver. I am almost overloaded with gifts, most of which are easy to identify, some of which are in the category of "hard eucharistos"--those blessings that at first appearance look like curses, but which become the avenue of God's work in our lives. With so many blessings, it is tempting to merely list them at the end of the day, offering a cursory 'thank you,' before dropping off to sleep. But any blessing that fails to turn my attention to the God who gave it is not a blessing at all, but a subtle temptation of the Enemy of our souls who will use anything at all, even the goodness of God, to fix our hearts on the gift, thereby luring us into idolatry. Our God gives all good things for us to enjoy, but desires that enjoyment to turn to praise, that our hearts might be settled only upon the Lord Jesus Christ who alone is worthy to be praised.
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