Expressing Gratitude

What does it mean to be thankful?  As we start the prep work for our annual day of Thanksgiving in the United States, we should stop for a minute and think about the things we are grateful for.  The Bible often points to David as the ultimate example for how to live a thankful heart.  Consider Psalm 100.

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!

Worship the Lord with gladness.

Come before Him, singing with joy.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God!

He made us, and we are His.

We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving;

go into His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and His faithfulness continues to each generation. (NLT)

David had a pattern of thinking that helped him to think on the positive things, making the feeling of gratitude grow within his heart.  The psalms he wrote was an outward sign of this gratitude: the expression of thanksgiving.  

I recently heard a quote at a community thanksgiving event that struck me.  I found the quote in an article written by Thomas S. Monson.  "Often, we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don't get around to it.  Someone has said that 'feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.'" 

Thank-you for the things you are doing.  Thank-you for the attention you give your families, your churches, your communities, and your Lord.  

No Point in Hiding

Today, in my daily reading, I found Psalm 139.  I was captured by the words, and then reminded of a worship song we sing often. Take a read, and then listen to the song.

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
     You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
     You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
     You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalms 139:1-18, 23, 24 NLT)

Desperation Band - Highest Place

So, stop trying to hide.  He's already there with you.  Yield to Him.
~Kathy

Refuge

Psalm 91:1-2 (NLT)

I took a break from superheroes today.  Instead I worked on a geeky project of adding text to a photo that was taken during a pivotal canoe trip with my husband.  It was pivotal trip, because it was during that trip we determined to reconcile our marriage and not divorce.  This photo became symbolic of a place God showed me His shelter and His refuge.

What does it mean to take refuge in the Lord?  Is this a physical place like that beautiful lake picture taken last summer?  Psalm 91 is all about that refuge.  The Lord assures us that if we remain in Him, we will be safe, and that evils will not touch us.  How can it be that we still have bad things happen to us?

It's simple.  While God does protect his people, the promises of refuge and complete safety are still to come.  He gave us (people) free choices and we are living in a world made up of those choices.  Our sanctuary still awaits us.  The best is yet to come.

I cannot wait to see what God has prepared for us in heaven.