It amazes me how each day has its 24 hours but not a single day is exactly the same.  There is always a variable, a uniqueness to each day we are gifted to live.  As God creates each day we are called to rejoice in the day that God has made, rejoice in him always.  God is so good, to continually create marvels around us each day.  But do our eyes and hearts perceive the marvels?  The very fact we can feel the cold or hot air on our skin, see depth and color of our surroundings, the ability hear so many different sounds, and savor a broad range of tastes reveals God’s love.  These are all wonderful gifts that are poured out to bless our lives. These gifts enable us to experience the love and majesty of our creator, our heavenly Father in so many different ways.  God is endlessly looking to reveal his love to you.  You are so important to God.  Your life, your very being is so important to God that He himself knit you together. Check out Psalm 139!  We don’t want to miss all these sweet blessings!

Praising God daily brings us into a deeper awareness of the many gifts God places around us.  Praise fills us with joy, praise leads us to live in gratitude.  When we speak out loud or pray all the things we are thankful for it truly changes our lives. There are absolutely challenging times and times that break our hearts and times that we feel our very breath has been knocked out of us. If you look with spiritual eyes during these times God still sends sweetness and love into situations that we feel may swallow us.  It is for these times we need to train ourselves to look for the good, asking God to open our spiritual eyes and ears to recognize his love in our daily lives.  The more we speak praises and acknowledge God daily, the deeper our relationship and awareness grows.  The more we know The Almighty God, who has power over EVERYTHING, the more praise will flow from our mouth!

Don’t take for granted what seems common, like water, and electricity, grocery stores, our beds, and the people around us. There is a tendency to get mad when traffic isn’t moving fast enough, forgetting to be thankful we have a car and a road to drive on. Frustrations can come when we feel the line at the grocery store isn’t moving fast enough, instead of being thankful for having a place to buy food.  This week I walked in my kitchen one night and my children had made quite a mess after I had already cleaned up all the dishes.  I began to break out in complaining and was stopped in my rant, and started telling God, thank you for our dishes, thank you for food to feed my children and thank you we have a kitchen table, and thank you God for my children.  This thanks came from asking God to give me a heart of thanks and gratitude.  He opened my eyes in that moment to see the blessing of the mess.

The more we praise God and thank him the more we begin to live in praise and see all the sweetness of God around us. This a Psalm David wrote: Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel in worship facing your holy temple and say it again: “Thank you!” Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; Most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. Psalm 138:1-3a (The Message)  God is so holy and so deserving of our thanks and praise!  May thanks be said today for things all around, big and small.

Ask God: For a spirit of thanks, a spirit of gratitude and a spirit of love.

Ask God: Open my eyes to see the blessings pouring out all around

 

For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  Psalm 139:14 TNIV

Hallelujah! Praise the name of God, praise the works of God.  Psalm 135:1 The Message

And they were calling to one another:  Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6:3