A Sunday Reflection

As I reflect back on this day, it all really started with my morning walk…

Each Sunday morning, I try to get in about a 30-minute walk not long after I get up. This is part of my morning routine on Sundays prior to my wife and I heading off to church. This morning, it was quite chilly, so my walking pace was a little more brisk than normal.

As I think of early this morning, I am thankful to God for warm clothes in the blustery wind, and for the sunshine that peeked through the clouds a time or two to warm me. But I also thank Him for my body – that I can see the clouds and sunshine, I can feel the cold wind on my face, and I can put one foot in front of the other. And in all that, He also sustains my heart beating, my lungs breathing, and my mind thinking.

I am thankful to the Creator for these physical blessings. He not only created all the things I saw and experienced on my walk this morning, but He also is the One who sustains every minute of my life in this physical body. And I give thanks.

As I continue to reflect, my day and my thanksgiving continued as we drove to church. Our church home is so much more than a building where people gather on Sundays and other days of the week. We truly see it as family. People we have grown to love over the 18+ years since the Lord led us there. These are dear brothers and sisters in Christ who have cared for us and our kids, as well as providing needed practical and spiritual help and encouragement for us.

But as I reflect now, I give thanks, not just for those church relationships, but for my wife. She is a precious gift from God to me and to all who know her! The helper He created just for me. And not only for my beautiful bride, my heart also is full of thanksgiving for our three kids – now all grown and married, and who live close to us here in Central Arkansas. And for our first grandchild, who will make her grand entrance into our world in December, Lord willing.

I am thankful to the Lord Almighty for these relational blessings. He created us for relationships and He is the One who helps grow and mature those relationships as we cooperate with Him. And I give thanks.

As I take more time to reflect, I remember our time of worshiping the Lord in song this morning. For me personally, there is a way the Lord communicates through music and lyrics that is like no other way I connect with Him – a connection that is physical, emotional and spiritual. All of the worship in song was wonderful, but there was a phrase in the lyrics of one song that stood out: “Oh, what my heart experienced when my shame hit the wayside, and my sin met the Most High”.

Don’t miss the magnitude of those words! If you are a Christ-follower, these lyrics are true of you – not only in the great gift of your salvation because of the incredible sacrifice of Jesus, your Savior – but also because of your daily experience of cleansing from your sins as you confess them to the Lord.

Please reflect on those lyrics one more time.

I am thankful to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the incredible spiritual blessings that are mine only because of Christ’s completed work on my behalf. These blessings are all by His grace and mercy. As the Word of God reminds you and me:

• God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

• Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6-8

• You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

I am so very grateful for the Lord’s physical blessings, and I am overwhelmingly grateful for the relationships He has given me. As I reflect on all of this, the incredible privilege of knowing the Lord stands head and shoulders above everything else.

He created you to know Him. He promised to redeem you after the Fall. He sent His Son on a rescue mission to reconcile you again to Him because you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Then, at the right time, He called you, and you responded to the Gospel, moving from death to life. And now He longs to meet with you each day as You learn to abide in Him – He the Vine and you the branch. And He will return to take you to be with Him forever.

To that I say “Hallelujah!!!” And I give great thanks!

For Further Reflection:

1. What are some of the physical blessings that God has given you, those tangible things that you experience every day? Write some of them below. Then give thanks even for the smallest of these things.

2. Who are those people in your life that God has used to grow, mature, and help you become the person He created you to be? Write their names in the space below. Then take time to give thanks for each of them by name.

3. Take time to remember days in the past that are “spiritual markers” in your life. Write some of them below. Now take time to give thanks for each one, knowing that each of these were moments the Lord orchestrated so that You could know Him or know Him more deeply.

Written by Glen Solberg, Abiding Marriage, November 2025. Send comments or questions to info@AbidingMarriage.org

Image by Stefan Maritz on Pexels