Thou shalt preserve me...

Thou are my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 32:7 KJV

Our pastor has a saying:
Get all you can.
Can all you get.
Sit on the lid.

In other words, get all you can of God's love, mercy, forgiveness, joy, patience...all those good things.

Then when you get your hands on it, keep it.
Hide it deep in your heart.
Practice it daily.
Pray for it hourly.
Make it your way of life.

Holy living doesn't come by accident.
The virtues of patience and contentment do not come without practice.
Forgiveness and mercy do not come without pain and maturity.
Sometimes these attributes only come from life's pain and yes, even misery.

Many times we have to experience hurts, heartache, disappointment, shock and grief to realize that God is big enough to provide for us in our time of need.

If I hadn't prayed daily, hourly, for patience when my son was small, I wouldn't have enough to even begin to tackle these teen age years. I still stop in my tracks many times during the day to ask, pray, beg for patience.

I knew I had asked (out loud) maybe too much, when my then-three-year-old son was juggling an armload of little plastic trucks. He looked at the trucks laying around his tiny white socked feet, the tilted his blue eyes toward the ceiling. "LORRRRD, GIVE ME PATIENCE!!!" He used that same tone I used...desperation mixed with some frustration and panic.

However, I learned that every time I was given the gift of another day of love and tolerance, I added it to my can and put on the lid, preserving it for the next part of my life. I didn't want to lose that hard earned tolerance.

In my can, I have placed patience into the mixture of forgiveness for past hurts.
I combine the forgiveness with contentment of trading my career to be a mom.
I mix contentment with the choice of love for when every family member feels grumpy.
The contents of my can are the balm of daily living. Full of my daily prayers for forgiveness. Full of my praises of thankfulness. Full of salvation's joy. Full of tears of comforted pain. Full of answered questions.

It is such a wonderful blessing to be able to share the contents of my can with my family and my friends.
And I have found that when I open my heart to share, I am able to receive the sweet goodness that has been preserved by my friends. Together we find the miracles of joy, wonder and praise.