Consider the source

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.   â€” James 1:17                 

I love cinnamon. I love cinnamon rolls, cinnamon graham crackers, cinnamon candies, cinnamon toast, cinnamon apples, and cinnamon pretzels. Cinnamon is one of those spices that makes other things taste better. However, it never crossed my mind to think about where cinnamon comes from. Then, on a recent trip to Sri Lanka, I learned that 90 percent of all the cinnamon in the world comes from that island nation located in the Indian Ocean. For all of the cinnamon I’ve enjoyed over the years, I never stopped to consider its source.

Sadly, my walk with Christ is sometimes like that. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, five children, and grandchildren who are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. In the midst of my enjoyment of them, however, I sometimes fail to consider the source of those blessings — what the hymnwriter called the “fount of every blessing.” James put it like this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (1:17).

How ungrateful we would be to enjoy the rich blessings of life without thanking the Father who is the source of all of creation. — Bill Crowder

Dear Lord, from whom

all blessings flow,

Most precious gifts

dost Thou bestow;

So truly faithful may I be

As Thou art gracious unto me. — Roworth

READ: James 1:12-18

Gratitude is a God-honoring attitude.

The Bible in one year:

• Numbers 4-6