Praiseworthy

Praiseworthy

I will praise you forever for what you have done. In the presence of your faithful people, I will put my hope in your name, for it is good.

“I’M GLAD WE HAVE SCHOOL AGAIN, because then I know I’m going to eat every day,” a young boy simply stated during Sunday school one morning after we’d had a few days off from school for staff training. I made eye contact with my ten-year-old son, who immediately recognized the meaning behind this boy’s words.

For the past couple of years, my family and I have been attending Sunday morning services at our local homeless shelter just two blocks from our house. It’s been a good experience for each of us in learning to accept and love others. But most of all, it’s been teaching us what it is to be grateful for the things we have, and to praise God for all that we have, no matter how small. Every Sunday we see kids and adults who are homeless, looking for security, jobs, safety, food—all the things I can easily take for granted in my daily life. It’s humbling to see people who are genuinely grateful and excited for the most basic of things that I easily dismiss on my own list of gratefulness.

We’ve had a lot of conversations with our children over this time about the value and worth each individual person carries, simply because they are made in the image of God. We talk often about what it looks like to walk with others, without trying to swoop in and be the hero. How grateful we are for what we have beyond just the necessities, things like love, security, and supportive people around us—and how God is worthy of our praise for each of these things.

What I’ve realized is that gratitude and praise are not something we achieve in life and move on from. There’s a constant coming back to consciously being grateful for all that we have—in good and hard seasons. We can easily praise God one day and curse him the next. We can be a fickle people. That is why so often in Scripture we are reminded to praise God for who he is and all that he has done. Praise and gratefulness go hand in hand, constantly bringing us back to the goodness of God.

Lord, may we praise you today, remembering all you’ve done as we put our hope in you for the future. Amen.

-Kendra

One Good Step: Give God praise for something you are grateful for today.