Last fall, like many of you, I felt tired of the circumstances of the world. I was grumpy with my family, fed up with wearing a mask everywhere I went, wondering if life would ever return to any semblance of normal. My mood was not good and not pleasing to God. One day, while complaining…
I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30 NIV) Throughout Scripture we see David praising and worshipping God in a variety of ways—playing the harp, dancing to music, and writing psalms. The psalms are authentic and unfiltered expressions of emotion directed at God. David expressed joy, sorrow, frustration, delight,…
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16 NIV) I love the concept of gratitude. An attitude of gratitude can often be the beginning of so…
Abundance is a tricky thing. It seems the more you have, the more you want. Take restaurants, for example. My favorite restaurant when I was a little girl was Burger King. We didn’t eat out much in the 80s, but when we did, it was two-for-one Whoppers on payday. When I moved to the city…
I’m happily married with three awesome kids, living in a home my husband renovated, with three dogs, four chickens, and a garden to boot. My husband is a discipleship pastor, and I am an English professor. Sounds like a good life, doesn’t it? You would probably think I ooze gratitude. The embarrassing truth is, I…
It’s one thing to tune your own heart toward gratefulness–I have good and bad days in this regard, and it’s a continuous area of focus for me. It is a whole other thing to spur others on to gratefulness in our day-to-day lives. I have been struck lately by how much negativity there is both…