Comfort Foods

Turkey roasting in the oven, fresh scents of chopped celery and onion. The sweetness of bright candles and homemade desserts.  Comfort foods take us back.  No matter how often we taste, we always remember. 

I celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandparents' home until I married.  It was always a happy time; the table filled with plenty.  In those days, the turkey had to be basted every so often and my grandmother seemed to stand at the oven all day.  The windows around the table were dripping with condensation from the heat of the kitchen.  Outdoors, the chilly landscape was an array of browns, golds and garnet.

Of course, the best comfort food of the day was the pumpkin pie.  Even though my grandmother always made a mince meat pie, there was nothing finer than good ol' pumpkin!  And real whipped cream piled high. 

I remember saying the blessing one year when I was about 10.  I had written a poem about the day. How blessed we were to enjoy the combination of family and comfort food: truly gifts from God.  As I think back on those special moments, I realize how God has comforted me throughout my life and I thank Him.

Today, take time to count your blessings. Deuteronomy 7:13 "He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil..."

Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us. Psalms 67:6.

Scents of Fall

Something in the air tells us it is autumn.  The dampness of the leaves piling upon ground. Camellias making a last bid for color.  Wafts of smoke weaving through tree limbs.  Not a hope filled spring palette, but a mottled scented hush of fading season.  There is a sadness to fall.  Sometimes I think of it as the last hurrah of the year before the starkness of winter.

{Kathleen Pizzella}

Then I remember that God created all this beauty for us.  Even though a season is dwindling, we should rejoice in Him. Do our eyes grow dim as the year ends?  Are the scents of life less pungent?  
Ephesians 5:2 says, "...and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

If we think of Jesus as a fragrant offering, we should strive to reflect the beauty of our senses through word and deed.  Each moment, a gift from God. 
"For we are a fragrance of Christ to God..." 2 Corinthians 2:15

                                                                   {Robert Grazzi}

Hope

Several things have occurred lately that have made me wonder about hope.  Job 17:15 says, "Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?  We pray with conviction and know God is listening.  But why do things turn out in a very different way?  What about the future?

Perhaps we put too much stalk in earthly leaders and circumstances. "Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there." Psalms 146:3.

 

God gives us daily blessings, but most times we don't put them to the best use.  We are concentrating on the earthly problems when we should be utilizing our blessings and placing our hope in God who offers us unfailing love. 

 Source{ -theperfectmistake}

Our time on earth is fleeting. Heaven is where our hope lies.