A friend shared with me an experience he had on a remodeling job. On the surface it looked like one big hassle: he would have to travel a couple hundred miles, live on the job site for a week, and do some difficult remodeling work. But because he had done work with this family before, he felt somewhat obligated to take the job.

This house was the owners’ vacation home, located in the hills that overlook the central coast of California. The home had a huge bay window that sported a breathtaking view of the ocean. And he was alone in the house.

The first morning, he got some coffee and looked out the bay window. As he was taking in the view, God met him in that moment. “This is for you,” were the Divine words he heard in his soul. His heart was flooded with the realization of God’s love and goodness for specifically him. And even though he didn’t own the home and though he was just a worker in the home, my friend realized he was given this opportunity from the hand of God. It wasn’t a job. It wasn’t an obligation. He realized that it was an “invitation” and a “gift.”

The great hymn (and popular song from the musical, “Godspell”) resounds with the chorus:

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.

Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all His love.

God’s gifts are all around us. Christ’s work on the Cross and the Spirit’s work in our hearts gives us the opportunity to “see” them with spiritual eyes (Eph 1:18). But we still need to “open” our spiritual eyes to see the gifts and the opportunities that are hidden in our everyday ordinary surrounding.

I haven’t mentioned the Whole Life Worship concept lately. It’s been on the back burner as we’ve been focusing on the topic of “thankfulness.” (You can read about the WLW concept here). But living out Whole Life Worship is what opened my friend’s eyes to God’s invitations and gifts. He would be the first to tell you that before he started living out his worship of God, these types of epiphany moments would have been totally missed and lost.

Before, he could have looked out of the same bay window and said, “Nice view,” but then gone on with his work. He would have dwelt on how lucky some people are to have such nice homes, and that he wasn’t one of them. He might have focused on how hard the work was or how crummy it was to be away from his wife and his own home. He may have become resentful over having to feel the sense of obligation to take on this job.

But he didn’t. Instead, he was grateful to God. He saw “the riches of God’s inheritance” specifically for him in this moment. His eyes were opened.

Do you see the gifts of God that surround you all the time? Do you experience the greatness or the holiness of God in the everyday ordinary things of life?

May God give you the sight of the wonder around you. And may it move you to give Him thanks.