Psalm 92: 1-4
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your merciful love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.”
Ok, I’m going to do something a little different. This month’s blogpost is going to be a part 1 of 2 focusing on this Psalm. On the surface, you may be thinking “Ok, I get it. With Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons upon us, we need to be thankful.” However, I think it goes a little deeper. Our thankfulness and praise should not only be because of the holidays but rather in spite of them. How do we reflect our praise and thanksgiving to God through all the seasons of life? Mind, body and soul….
I think an important place to start is realizing the difference between thankfulness and praise. To be honest, this is something I frequently meshed together for years. I would say to myself, “if I thank God for all He has blessed me with, isn’t that my praise to Him?” Nope! I could not have been more wrong!
As you have heard it said before, God does not need our thanksgiving and praise. He is all good and all powerful and all knowing and does not need our “compliments” to complete Him. It is, however, necessary for our completion and that means it extends past the holiday season to our everyday lives.
Cultivating a life of sincere gratitude to God for all that He blesses us with and allows in our lives, knowing it is for our betterment, is no easy thing to do. At least not for me. God can see through my platitudes. It’s hard enough to be thankful when things don’t go according to our plans, but are we specifically thankful for all the little blessings?
To help combat pride, my spiritual director recently challenged my husband and I to name at least one thing every day that we were thankful for when we go to bed at night. This has been a wonderful blessing. Not only does saying this out loud help to acknowledge it, but it is also a wonderful lesson in humility. EVERYTHING in our days is touched by the hand of God! EVERYTHING! Whatever thing you think you did on your own…you’re wrong! God blessed with you the time, talent, and treasure to work in cooperation with Him to do something as a reflection of His love. The short line at the grocery store…He was in that. The long wait at the stop sign…He was in that too. The screaming toddler during dinner…yep, He is there too. Have we ever stopped to think that His hand in those things was truly for our betterment? The short line may have presented us with the opportunity to stop in on someone who needed a quick visit. The long wait at the stop sign may have been for us to slow down if but for a moment, to acknowledge God and prevent us from further distraction and possible harm. The screaming child…an opportunity for patience and love amidst struggles. This practice has also definitely helped me get out of the ritual “Thank you for my food, house, etc. etc.” When I can pause enough to thank Him for the heat in my home on a chilly night or my favorite cup of coffee in the morning, my thankfulness has much more depth and meaning.
Now, praise is a whole other thing. When we praise God, it has nothing to do with what He has given us. We praise Him because He is. He is Love. He is goodness, despite what He blesses us with. This is at a whole other level that I think we could spend our whole lives unpacking and never even make a dent. I think it is a rare thing to contemplate God for who His is without interjecting our own “stuff.” I think we often forget that this is what the Mass is all about. It is not about us or the music or even the priest. It is about God. It is an opportunity to give praise to Him who gave His whole self to us, not just at Christmas or Thanksgiving but every day…on the altar, on the cross and in our hearts. Our praise to Him completes us and makes us w-holy. That’s the crazy thing…when we focus on Him, we help ourselves even more. It’s like He’s rubber and we’re glue and everything we give to Him bounces off Him and sticks to us. So contrary to what the world tells us. The enemy tries to tell us that we are the only ones who can help ourselves…by giving ourselves more attention. But God has wired us to praise Him for OUR own good. A spirit of (intentional) gratitude renews our mind, body, and soul. It truly makes us healthier…inside and out…when we offer God our praise and thanksgiving.
And HOW we do that matters…. mind, body and soul. (More on that next month 😉)
I truly hope you and your families have a blessed, w-holy Thanksgiving!
Lifting you in prayer & Trusting in His care –
Christine