Bedfellows

This is a time of year that many here in the US choose to embrace an attitude of gratitude in different ways. We get some time to reflect even as we are moving closer to the end of another year. Many of us are just grateful that we made it this far – some of us on broken pieces. Very often it is difficult to be thankful in hard times and seasons of uncertainty. On this journey I’ve discovered two bedfellows that can work in concert to steer us through murky waters and dark days. We call them prayer and praise.

Prayer:

• Releases you from trying to solve things by yourself
• Broadens our horizon and elevates our thoughts to see the impossible
• Rolls the weight unto the shoulder of the Almighty
• Unburdens my heart, mind and spirit

Praise:

• Shifts our attention to God who sees the total picture
• Moves us from panic and appeals to gratitude
• Moves us beyond the petty to the presence of Omniscience and Omnipotence
• Takes us from ‘please’ to ‘thank you’

How do we do both? In times of delay and seeming silence. When the pressure becomes unbearable and relief appears to be nowhere in sight. When you look out, your vision is clouded by fear, doubt and weariness. How do I pray when words fail? How do I praise when my heart feels heavy and my mind is overwhelmed? The truth is there’s no flowery answer. I’ve learned just to push through. To do when I don’t feel like – to do in spite of. To have conversation even when it seems the heavens are shut up. To praise not because of what I feel but because of what I know.

This I know that God is good and His mercies endureth forever!! That little table at the back of my church is a place where I sit some mornings very early before I go to work. There I quiet my heart – the tone is set for my day. I find what I need to pray and praise even when the storms are raging and I feel like my world is spiraling out of control. I trust the God who is in control. Pray and praise- there’s power in both!