"Only a deep appreciation of all he has done for us in Christ will motivate us to pursue true happiness, to put off all our shabby attempts to make our mud pies a little more tasty, and to see the One who loves us more than we'll ever comprehend." Because He loves Us, Elyse Fitzpatrick, 


Only such a deep appreciation of Christ will help us to distinguish between the Truth, and  the self-sufficient counterfeits we create.  We were made to worship, so find fulfillment in doing what we were created to do.  But when we think we cannot live, or be fulfilled without a particular circumstance, a person or an object, a position, or some other measure of success it only shows us for the idolaters we are.  God is a jealous God.  Not because he is arrogant, but because He knows what we were created for...and who He is!


Maybe that is why God was always telling the Israelites to remember...to recall what He had done for them.  That was the whole point of all those feasts.  Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, told them to remember what was about to happen with the bread and wine.


Ann Vos Kamp challenges us to remember...more than that to see  grace in our everyday lives.  To identify it and respond with gratitude.


This is not an escapist "everything is fine" attitude.  It is truth.  Yes, there is pain here.  Yes, there is ugliness here.  Yes, there are lives ruined by brutality. But this is only a reflection.  This is not real reality.  But what we see, feel, and hear is only a small part of reality,a nd it is often tainted.  When we renew our minds to think as He thinks, we can have joy