The Yearning and The Filling

My cat Annabelle has a nose like a hound dog.

She can smell any kind of meat coming out of the fridge or the oven from two rooms away.  And she'll come running to stand at my feet, follow me around the kitchen, plead insistently for a taste of this food.

Sometimes I give in, let her have a small piece of what she craves and begs for.  But I always regret it later because it's never enough.  Never enough to satisfy her.

One thing I am learning on this journey to a thousand gifts is that the practice of counting God's goodness is meant to heighten our senses.  It's meant to give us "a nose like a hound dog."  So that we can smell and taste and see even the faintest whisper of His Goodness in our lives.  So that we come running to His feet, follow Him around, plead for just a piece of this Goodness.

And you know what?  He always gives it to us--this Goodness that we crave and beg for.  Not just a bite but as much as we can eat.

He gives it to us knowing full well that it will never be enough.  Never be enough to satisfy us. Never be enough to end our craving for Him.

He gives us a feast of His Goodness because He is Good.  And nothing delights Him more than filling us up with Himself.

Slowly I am learning to crave and beg for His goodness.  And this is the strange wonder of it all:  As the yearning deepens, my soul fills up.

#73  Amaryllis buds popping up in late January, surprising and delighting my heart.

#74  The way my Happy Light fills even the darkest days of Winter with light

#75  The friend who doesn't leave when the relationship gets hard and the hurt rises high

#76  The friend who makes spreadsheets, finds order in my chaos

#77  The way cranberry-orange bread pudding makes breakfast the happiest meal of the day.

#78  Much-anticipated book arriving on my doorstep

#79  The chance to journey through this book with a community of thanks-givers

#80  Sunshine pouring through my window on a Wednesday in Winter

#81  Fog rolling in, making the world seem small again

#82  The moment when the pain finally stops and warmth finds its way back to my body

#83  For creative inspiration--and finding everything I need to try something new

#84  For colors--all of them, even the ones that are a little bit ugly.  Because life is meant to be seen and lived in color

#85  Heart lessons learned from watching a furry, four-legged friend named Annabelle

#86  The yearning for His Goodness that leaves me full of Him