Making a List. . .

With the holidays coming, I am making a list. . .no actually two lists and since I live in a house of "foodies" my lists aren't gift lists (yet) they are food lists.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I take the responsibility for our two major holiday meals very seriously.  On our holiday meals, everyone is allowed one dish of their choosing.  It doesn't have to fit into a menu plan or fit into any particular dietary regimen.  Whatever it is they want shows up on the table.  Of course there is also a perfectly cooked turkey. With four good cooks in our house, making this meal a stellar one is important, hence my two lists.

One is a list of absolutely everything I need to make our Thanksgiving meal.  The other is what I have already purchased toward that meal.  The first list is very long.  Right now the other list is short.  In fact, it only has six things on it.  But four of those things are very difficult to find close to the holiday so I feel as though I've made great strides on my list.  I know that some of the things on  my long list I already have in my cabinet, but I'll check on those closer to the baking days to know if I need a refill or not.

Whenever I look at that long list and feel discouraged at how much shopping has to be done before the holiday meal can even be started, I can simply switch over to the short list -- the one with the hard to find things -- and see how much has already been purchased, and be encouraged of what has already been accomplished.

Isn't that like our walks with the Lord?  Sometimes we look at our lives and we see bundled around our feet our needs and our wants and we feel the discouragement pile upon our shoulders.  But if we look beyond that and begin to look at everything He has already provided for us -- including our very breath -- that discouragement falls off as we realize there is not anything we need that He will not provide.  And what can we want more than Him than He is not willing to give in abundance?

 "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 

Luke 12:32