Good morning…
Dripping with multi-colored wax, her old coffee table told a story of gratitude. When she was going through her divorce, she was having a hard time. Girlfriends came to spend time with her, to cheer her up, to hear her heartache. Whenever a friend would visit, they would light candles on the coffee table in her living room, share some wine, and talk out the contents of their hearts, hour upon hour. As candles in various colors melted, their wax would drip down onto the plate, then over the plate onto the table, and across the surface of the coffee table until wax hung like stalactites over the side. The melting wax mirrored her melting cares, different layers of color dripping freely. “It looks so beautiful,” commented a friend, so she kept adding to the wax dripping work of art for years, until her heart had healed whole.
Yesterday, September 21st, was World Gratitude Day, a holiday started in 1965 at an international conference in Hawaii. So in honor of all for which she is grateful, my new across the street neighbor hosted a gratitude party. She invited her inner circle of friends, many of whom had spent hours visiting around her wax laden coffee table years ago, and we dripped multi-colored wax from taper candles over the side of antique bottles she had collected for the occasion. We dripped and laughed, ate finger foods and drank wine, sharing stories of all we are grateful for in our ordinary lives. As I walked back across the street at the end of the night, I brought home my bottle decorated with multi-colored layers of wax and felt thankful, oh so thankful, for God expanding my circle with new friends.
Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]. Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being]…
Colossians 3:15-16a (AMP),
Sue
