On this cold, clear Monday morning, Father, help us to give thanks to You "always and for everything." Help us to sing Your praises--O might our lives resound with the melodies of thanksgiving that live in our hearts but that also pour from our lips. You tell us to not only think gratitude, but to speak it, to sing it, to proclaim it, to share it.
And Lord, please give us thankful hearts even when the gratitude comes hard and begrudgingly. When the road behind has been brutally difficult and sorrowful. Or when the road ahead looks dark and uncertain...give us, even then, hearts that see and trust You in the midst of it all, and so still to find room for thanksgiving.
For You have promised that You inhabit the praises of Your people. Might the sound of our personal thanksgiving choruses be reflected not just in the happy blessings of our lives, but also in our hard and perplexing challenges. For You are in them all and will use them all--somehow, someway--in Your divine sovereignty for our good and Your glory. O Lord, give us thankful hearts!
And so this day, I thank You, Lord for a bridal shower last night in Charlotte for our oldest daughter. Thank You for the hands that worked so hard to prepare it. Thank You for her dear and wonderful friends who were there to celebrate. Thank You even for Charlotte, NC--though I wish our daughter lived here in Raleigh!--and for the good life You are giving all those young folks there. (Okay, but just in case, Lord, I'm still praying for an eventual return to Raleigh. I'm just saying...but I'm thankful!) Thank You for safe travel for everyone. Thank You that our younger daughter could go with me even though she has a lot of work for school. Thank You for my husband manning the fort back home. Thank You for Matt (the wonderful man she's marrying!). Thank You that we didn't get lost driving to Charlotte--a complete miracle with my total lack of any directional skills whatsoever. Seriously. Thank You for GPS on cell phones. Thank You for the yummy food--O my, thank You for that food..especially, of course, the CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! Life is so good when there is chocolate cake to be shared with the people you love.
Well, I could go on and on, but you get the point--God tells us to be thankful in everything, and I'm trying to practice that in my life. To reflect, to remember, to recount all the big and little gifts He gives us everyday. When I started this morning, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything on my plate...but now I'm just feeling grateful and joyful. For gratitude always always always leads to joy.
So today, if you're feeling a bit anxious or grumpy or discouraged, start recalling and recounting--right this minute--God's goodness in your life, big and small. And watch His joy start flowing. And the music resounding. To God be the glory.
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