“Every good gift”

James 1:17

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So, as I’ve mentioned, we spent a week in Texas over Christmas.  My in-laws live in San Antonio, so that was our home base, but we also found ourselves in the little town of Beorne, (pronounced “Bernie”) and in the little town of Greune (pronounced “Green”) and in the not-so-little town of Austin (pronounced “Austin”).

And wherever we went, we ate.  I had steak, ribs, Tex-Mex, prime rib, and then some more steak and some more ribs.  Yes, I’m a meat-a-tarian. 

I also had fries ~ regular and sweet-potato ~ and mashed potatoes and a really good Caesar salad, and fried pickles.  First time on those.  Interesting.

And I had sweet tea.  Oh, I love me some sweet tea.  But I don’t drink it very often.  I mean, I rarely make it at home.  It’s a treat that I don’t want to become a regular occurrence.  So whenever I happen to be at one of the few restaurants around my home that offer it, I order it.  And then I drink it as slowly as possible. 

Meaning I sometimes enjoy it for days.  I have a few sips every day, and maybe make it last a week or so.  Is that at all ridiculous?  I think of it as being a good steward and making something good last, but I realize that it might be taking it a bit far. 

I’ve thought about it before.  About manna, and enjoying what God has given us, and trusting that He’ll always provide for us.  But I also know ~ when I’m nursing a large sweet tea for a week ~ that I’m not getting any more sweet tea any time soon.  So I just keep making them last as long as I can.

But when I was in Texas, I couldn’t do that.  Sweet tea is available at almost every restaurant we went to, so there was no point in making it last.  Besides, after a few days I was going to be on an airplane, and I knew there was no taking it home with me.  So I just enjoyed it all.

And of course, I’m 18 days into the new year, and I haven’t had the chance to have any sweet tea since we got home.  But in the past couple of weeks, something has occurred to me… that enjoying my sweet tea ~ the whole glass ~ is not about expecting God to provide more sweet tea the very next day.  Yes, that’s what He did with the manna, but now I think what He expects of us to just have faith in the knowledge that He will provide.  The trick is to not limit Him. 

Maybe it will be sweet tea, maybe it will be something else, but it will be from Him, and I should thankfully enjoy it.  Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, from sweet tea to clean, clear water. 

~ “Every good gift and every perfect gift

is from above,

and comes down from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no variation

or shadow of turning.” ~

James 1:17

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