PRAISES

Am I the only one who ever seems to have trouble with this subject. If you listen to some people then you are not truly achieving this function unless you get down right giddy.

Now that does not in anyway account for the normal nature of a person's personality. Is it really fair to expect a person who is somber or stoic by nature to act all excited?

The people who seem to see things that way are always the ones that are by nature very demonstrative. So since that is there nature, they claim you can't truly love God unless you show it by acting all giddy and emotional.

That doesn't to me mean that a person prone to being quiet is excused from praising god. It does mean we need to do it with a sincere heart.

To give thanks and be grateful doesn't require big words or smiles. It does require sincerity and honesty.

God truly does know our heart. He knows if our words have meaning or if they are just being rambled in order to go through the motions.

And no matter who we are that is not the way it works that please. It is what comes from our hearts that truly matters.

That might seem trite and a repeat of what is often said, but it is still the truth. And what if a person is sad and upset? Can we truly feel in a mood to praise God?

I think at times those are the most important occasions to truly lift up our voices. For those are occasions when we often will be most able to focus on how we really feel.

God will not strike us down for being honest. I think he would prefer that to pretending we are grateful when we don't feel that way.

Thus is the challenge we all must endure. And to do with all sincerity. It will make the difference to both within and without.

To stand in the light of God's grace and see clearly truly does require eyes that see more than our own lives. To walk where we might think it not worth traveling.

And along the way let the reality come into our souls that God truly is giver of all that is. If we let it soak into our spirit and see the truth.

Then we can find the tongues we need to become what we need to become in God's eyes. And that will always touch us more than if we struggle against where God leads.

For that I am grateful when it touches me in ways the gratitude comes in waves instead of yawns.