Page 121 began early as I needed to not only do the cleaning and building prep to start the week, but I also needed to take down the prayer ministry display out of the foyer so it wasn’t in the way for the school day.  Once those tasks were taken care of, it was time to settle in for a morning with God as I worked on the prayer guide for next week.  For a few reasons I could think of and probably a few I couldn’t think of, the topic for the next prayer guide seemed to be more difficult to settle on than usual.  As I continued to spend time in prayer and the Word, I finally chose the topic of learning to give.  Because giving is a core characteristic of God’s love for us — “For God so loved the world that He gave . . . ” — giving ought to be a core characteristic of those seeking to be Christ-like.  

When we learn to give as God has given to us, we give of ourselves to the people around us.  Giving becomes a way of life when we begin to recognize that the only things we are able to give are things we have received from God.  Unfortunately, when we hear someone talk about giving, we rarely think of anything beyond money — or at least some form of material thing.  Yet God not only wants us to give generously; He desires that we learn to give thanks, give in a timely manner, give sound answers, give grace, and give attention as well.  When we pray about learning to give, we ask God to help us give in a manner similar to His giving — sacrificially and for the benefit of those who receive.

By the time the prayer guide was written and I had it formatted and scheduled to be published and sent out on Sunday, it was time to wrap up some tasks in the building and finish up the workday.  The sky had been overcast pretty much all day and with cool, rainy conditions I had no visitors come by the office window wanting their pictures taken.  With no fresh photos, I went through some old photos to choose one for today’s page.  Susan was given a photo calendar a week ago and quickly became fixated on needing a tiger.  We tried to resolve the autistic obsession with a stuffed tiger that had been one of her friends in the past, but it didn’t match what was in her mind.  MJ took her to the store today where she found one that made her happy, so all is good for the time being.  Today’s photo is from a few years ago as she was playing patty-cake with the tiger at the zoo.  She loves the zoo tigers and it often appears that the feeling is mutual.  In fact, her preference would have been to bring one of those home with us but we continually convince her that they wouldn’t fit in her room very well.  🙂

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• What goes up must come down — which makes simplifying display setup a wise move.
• When the mind is having difficulty focusing, it is a good idea to wait upon the Lord to allow Him to refresh it.
• When we read about, and experience, how God treats us, we learn how we ought to treat others.
• Giving includes money and material things, but those things don’t fully define what our giving ought to look like.
• Sometimes our day is overcast and gloomy so we need to rely on memories of the times that God’s light was made known to us.
• Sometimes we need to be reminded that the only thing that can fully satisfy us is God Himself.