Appreciating the Gift

Thought the Lent verse for today was particularly appropriate; it's Paul talking about a hard thing in his life, in 2 Corinthians 12v9:

Three times I begged God to remove (this difficulty), and then he told me, 
          My grace is enough; it's all you need.
          My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I stopped focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.


We are asking God to remove this virus - some of us have set our phones to pray every night at 21h for three minutes, if you'd like to join us. But, meanwhile, I am trying to appreciate all the good things, and not focus on the problem... tonight was particularly easy, being back with our family again, at our daughter, Deb and Sam's house, our grandkids, our son, and Julia and Tom, down from Manchester.

Gratefuls (more than three tonight!):
- that we got into the UK last night, no questions asked, and a very pleasant welcome from the police woman on duty
- our friends, R and A, insisting we spend the night with them, virus or not
- walking to the Solent this morning
- safe drive up to Sutton Coldfield
- beautiful England, so many flowers everywhere, distant steeples rising out of gentle landscapes
- a "hot dog party" with all our family, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert, with a good Alentejo red 
- other friends, Nigel and Liz, welcoming us to stay with them, as G and H in the high risk category