I hope you have a lot of nice gifts under your tree this Christmas! I realize that not all of us will, and now is the time for us to make moves to help provide for those who are less fortunate than we are. At the same time, we can cultivate a spirit of thankfulness for all the blessings we enjoy day by day as gifts from the Lord. Randy Alcorn shares this week.

 

Ernie

 

 

 

4 Men Banner

 

 

 

Christmas background. Wrapped with ribbon gift boxes, toys and others presents with the numbers as Advent calendar on rustic wooden table background
   
Open Your Eyes
  By Randy Alcorn

 

Open Your Eyes to All the Gifts God Has Given You 
This Christmas
 
Sometimes focusing on God's "big miracles" - like curing cancer and making brain tumors disappear - causes us to overlook His small, daily miracles of providence in which He holds the universe together, keeps our hearts beating, provides us with air to breathe and lungs to breathe it, and gives us food to eat and stomachs to digest it. (Years ago when I became an insulin-dependent diabetic, it dawned on me that I had never once, in the fifteen years I'd known him, thanked God for a pancreas that had worked perfectly until then!)
 
If we disregard these and thousands of other "ordinary" gifts, we don't just fail to notice them, we fail to notice God. God's goodness is always evident if we look in the right place. "He is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:27-28).
 
G.K. Chesterton wrote, "Here ends another day, during which I have had eyes, ears, hands and the great world around me. Tomorrow begins another day. Why am I allowed two?"
 
When life is viewed with a spirit of thankfulness, we will see the happiness and reasons for happiness that surround us. So this Christmas, let's open our eyes to the multitude of daily gifts that God has already given us. We have much to be thankful for!
 

Randy Alcorn is the author of over fifty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. epm.org

 

What is eOT?
eOT is CBMC's powerful on-line tool to lead you thorugh a colaborative process of growing more like Christ by studying God's word and applying it to daily life.

 

 
Much more than the typical Bible study. 
Learn More: 

More than the average Bible study. Our focus is to provide men with a proven game plan for "doing life" and maintaining margin while finding meaning and purpose for their lives.
 

CBMC New England  | 978.840.1093 | NewEngland@cbmc.com | NewEngland.cbmc.com