“Proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1Peter 2:9
I stop to reflect at the end of Thanksgiving Day.I am making my list of things and people that I am thankful for. It has been a wonderful day. The weather was perfect; I have enjoyed the company of family and eaten a meal that was prepared with love. I am sitting here thinking how blessed I am. In the midst of these blessings, I am torn with the feeling that I am so undeserving of all of these blessings and that I do not spend enough time praising God for all of His blessings and for all of the good things that He has created for me to enjoy while on this earth. We have had some wonderful church services over the past few weeks and I have enjoyed our life group lessons, but the thoughts that have been filling my study journal have come from my independent book study. Stormie Omartian’s ,The Prayer that Changes Everything. This book has added a dimension to my thoughts and prayers that I have never experienced before.
I have been reminded that God stated seven times in Genesis when he was creating our world that he looked at what he created and “ it was good”. WOW!!! Every time God created something he stopped, reflected and said, “It is good”. As I have enjoyed the beautiful fall days, the wonderful mild temperatures, I have found that when I look around me, it is like someone has pulled a film from my eyes. I hear the birds singing, I smell the late blooming flowers of fall and feel the crisp temperature of the fall air. I have always enjoyed God’s creations and the nature around me.. but not with this emotion and intensity. If God says that “It is Good”… It must be “Good”. Because God loves His creation… so should we. I have begun to separate mans creation from God’s creation. This Thanksgiving… I am so thankful for God’s creation and his blessings. I have the desire to worship God and praise God for all of his creations, people, animals, nature.
Yes… I even thanked God for that mouse that I saw the glimpse of as he ran across my floor Wednesday night and all of the leaves that I raked out of the yard. These too are results of the Good that God created.
As I close the Thanksgiving day of 2011 and begin the plans for the holiday season, I pray that I will go into this holiday season with a humble, grateful heart. I want to keep my eyes fixed on God’s creations, with a voice of praise.
I want to feel Gods' love and know that praise is automatically the natural thing to do. With keen senses, I want to welcome the holiday season with Praise and worship.
