Day 20 of Advent

Helen E. (2010)

WHAT CAN I GIVE HIM?

I give Him my heart overflowing with His love.
I give Him my hands to do my part.
I give Him my mind to learn His teaching.
I give Him my feet to follow Him preaching
I give Him my voice to sing His praises.
I give Him my soul to fill with His grace.
I give Him my thanks for all His many blessings.
I give Him all that I am, all that He made me.

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Tiffany S. (2002)

Knowing that Jesus is alive means to me that when I have trouble, He is there to help me.

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Lisa J. (2012)

Someone once asked me, “If you were stranded on a desert island, which song would you choose to listen to over, and over, and over?” The answer came easy to me, Simple Gifts.

Originally composed as a Shaker hymn and work song in 1848, it has been added to our hymnal under the title “Lord of the Dance” and was popularized by composer Aaron Copeland in his arrangement of “Appalachian Suite”.

This tune, no matter the form, always has the same effect on me: a reminder to be thankful for what is important, to take the moments that I have been given and cherish each one.  Lots of things make me smile, brighten my day and lift my spirits. My kids and husband do that, my silly life full of unexpected conversations and incidents do too.  Every day things that crack me up or even ones that make me sad add to the fullness of my blessings.  It is a fact, that any time Andrea plays this tune on our organ or I hear the familiar sounds getting shuffled through my iPod I always stop. I stop because just by hearing Simple Gifts is one of the ways that God gets me to stop in my tracks and say Thank You.  God does have other ways to remind me, to get my attention and signal that it’s time to slow down and count my blessings but I know in my heart He gave me joy and blessings with this one little reminder and for that I am always grateful.