I was half distracted with the next item on my list and half preoccupied by the events of the morning. I didn’t even notice the tutorial happening a few paces away. The woman stocking the produce held out two different pears to demonstrate the difference between ripe and not-yet-ripe to my children huddled around our cart.
“May I give them a taste?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said and they let out little squeals. They weren’t burdened like I was.
There are days when I get allured by a lie which cloaks itself different enough from the last that I get hooked. Today was one of them. Their heart issues were surfacing and I was sinking.When my focus shifts for even just an hour — a minute, sometimes — the undercurrent pulls me in to forgetting who He is and formulating the whole of our relationship around what I’m not.
She sliced and passed pears to little children who made a memorial of that morning. The rest of the grocery trip was filled
with exclamations about the “nice woman who blessed us” but the biggest voice came minutes later, into my spirit.
There’s always a gift. I am always working good.
Those silly little pears and their giver are my fodder for adoration this first Monday of the New Year.
Even our worst moments can be won.
(Each Monday, the column of 
adoration to the right-side of my blog moves front-and-center, here, and I invite others who are doing the same — stretching their heart to lift God’s Word up and back to Him, despite every obstacle the day presents — to add their link below in the comments section. You can link people back here from your post by grabbing the code on the right side of my blog. If you don’t have a blog but are, yourself, a lover of words and of God and of God’s word, feel free to add an adoration of your own in the comment section. Whether there is one of us or one hundred — and even if the words are written “merely” on our hearts — we will give Him the praise He’s due.)
Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits. Psalm 68:19**
You flood me with Yourself. I declare a drought and You say, “open your eyes to see Me.” There is always good that You are working.
You offer me perspective in exchange for my weak glance and even my lowest moments can witness glory. Today, You say, is the day of the Lord. And when a hundred accusations lead me to believe I’m not worthy to partake, You say “put on Me” and I drink bounty.
Your benefits are unending, God, for even me. No circumstance is too big for Your touch. You don’t just heal but You advance. You take what is loss and You fill in the gaps and then You call out and call up.
I can have You, even now — especially now. Today is my day because it was Your day first and it’s pregnant with gifts just from You. It’s expectant with the gift of You.
Jesus, limitless Jesus, I worship You.
The world, and my flesh, make a case for my lack, but You say all life is found in You. I come close to this rebuttal, I ask just to see, and I’m engulfed by the truth of this word.
All strength and beauty and fortitude and depth and understanding and wisdom are found in You. You are everything and I am nothing, but You remind me that I am heiress.
I cannot know abundance apart from You and I cannot truly know You and not live out of that abundance. You are rich and Your person offers me all I could ever want and more.
Jesus, limitless Jesus, I praise You for your mark on my doldrums. I praise You for Your in-breaking Spirit. I worship You for the great benefit of having, knowing, living, and loving You.
**For a context to this little space on my blog, read: Why I Adore. You can easily subscribe to these devotional meditations as they are delivered, by using this feed: http://www.EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai/feed or by entering your email address in the second box on the right-hand side… (scroll up a bit).
