Thankful, Day Sixty-Three

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

Be thankful, it says. Thankfulness is not just an action or an expression. It's not about speaking words of thanks, or having an attitude of gratitude. It's not something you say, or something that you do. Thankfulness is a state of being. It is something that you are.

People can say thanks without meaning it. Oh, they may mean the words at the time they say them. But they don't really have a heart of thanksgiving. People can send Thank You cards to acknowledge the gift that you gave or the kindness that you showed. But that could just mean they are merely polite and understand social etiquette. People can turn thanks over a plate of food, rattling off some rote prayer without feeling any stirring of gratitude toward the hands that really provided it.

But the kind of thankfulness the Psalmist is talking about is a lifestyle, not a single act. It is about a heart and mind and body all turned constantly and continually in praise and gratitude toward the Almighty. I love the encouragements of the Apostle Paul. Such as, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. Or, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Or, with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.

Yes, thankfulness isn't supposed to be what we do. It needs to be who we are.

Lord, I thank you for the good times, the great times, the happy, fulfilling, satisfying, completely wonderful times that you bless me with. The moments, the minutes, the hours, the days that you fill with such good and blessed things. Lord, I'm truly thankful and I hope my life reflects that. I appreciate the favor that shines down on me from on high!

Lord, I thank you for the bad times, too, the sad times that are often dark and lonely, when the road is rough and my companions are few. I thank you for the valleys in life, for they make me appreciate the mountaintop even more. I thank you for the desert wandering, which makes me appreciate the oasis even more. I thank you for the dry and barren land, which makes me appreciate the fountain of life even more. And most of all, I appreciate your faithful presence in my life that is recognizable in the bad times, as well as in the good. Your favor still shines down from on high!

Lord, I thank you for the times yet to come that you have promised me. I know I will walk through hard times, and that you will be with me, but I thank you for the assurance that better days are ahead, and that the best in life is yet to come. I know what you have promised, and I can hardly wait to see how you are going to do it all! I truly appreciate the plans that you have for me, the path that you have set before me, and the perfection with which you will bring it all to pass.

Thank you Lord for all days!