Singing Praises

As some of you might have noticed, my weekly "Thankful Thursday" posts have been conspicuously absent in the recent weeks. That being said, I want to be clear that I have more things to be thankful for than I can even begin to count. However, it seems that some part of me has been waiting for some magical day when every aspect of life is in pefect order to post. Fortunately, I was blessed with a lesson that has helped me re-focus.

I was awakened before dawn Friday morning by the sound of thunder, and lightening bolts illuminating our bedroom. Above the crashes of thunder and howling wind, I could hear birds-singing. Not a subdued chirping, but beautiful, spirited song. I sat silently for a moment in awe of the irony. In the middle of a torrential storm, they were not hiding in silence, paralyzed by fear, but filling the world with their song. It was as if they were saying "no matter what the weather, we rejoice!"

I was suddenly aware of how much we could learn from the birds. In the midst of life's storms, so many of us tend to allow our trials to steal our joy, to rob us of our confidence. We allow our trials to dilute our happiness today, and our worries spill over into our tomorrow, dampening that day as well. We forget how to sing, and how to face each day as a new gift worthy of celebration.

I am fairly certain that the birds do not wake up each day and check the weather forecast, or wait to see how the day's events unfold before deciding if they are going to sing! They start their day with a song no matter what the weather!

As a new Christian, I realized today how important it is to sing The Lord's praises every single day, no matter what the weather. I realized that I should be waking up each day with the attitude "This is the day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it-and make the devil MAD in the process! Period. End of story. Not with the caveat "I will rejoice today if everything goes well," or "I will be thankful for this day if..........."

Amazing that I learned such an important lesson from the birds.

Happy weekend all.