Psalm 136

Saturday, March 29
Genesis 47:27-48:7
Psalms 87, 90, 136
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Mark 7:1-23

I've noticed a trend in the world today, a trend to downplay all of the wonderful things in our lives. Rarely do I give a compliment that it isn't met with "thank you, but..." followed by some reason that the complimented isn't worth the compliment. When we talk about our families we include a laundry list of bad for every one stellar story. When we talk about our accomplishments we have to temper them with failures. When we talk about our jobs we rehash all of the annoyances. It is as if our culture is so worried about fitting in that we all try to put our lives in the worst light so no one feels bad about themselves.

We are not honoring God when we behave this way. God showers us with blessings each day, and downplaying those blessings demeans God and God's grace. Paul warns us against grumbling in 1 Corinthians 10:10 and Psalm 136 certainly does not downplay the grace of God. In fact, the blessings of the Israelites are clearly stated, without a "yeah, but" tacked on anywhere.

This Lent I'm trying to turn the trend around in my life. I'm choosing joy. I'm choosing to rejoice in the fact that God loves me and has heaped blessings upon me. I'm choosing to honor God by being thankful for the grace I live in. I may not be able to shout the "H-word" from the rooftops for forty days, but I can prepare my heart to feel that joy by sweeping out the negative and focusing on the positive.

If it takes twenty-one days to make a habit, by the end of Lent I should have a new habit, one of owning my blessings and giving proper thanks for them. Then when the time for saying hallelujah comes again, my heart will be ready to hold all of the joy that it can.

Krystal Weiss