Thanks Living: Assignment

To stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening. 1 Chronicles 23:30

To stand: present oneself before, be attentive, arise, appear

Morning:  implying the coming of dawn, and even daylight

Thank: to revere or worship (with extended hands)

Praise: to boast, to rave; to celebrate

Likewise: faithfulness, in the same manner as before

Evening: originally sunset

In 1 Chronicles 23, David makes Solomon king and gathers together the princes, priests, and Levites, to assign them their proper jobs. I like the assignment given to the Levites, to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord—and do it again in the evening. 

Start the day thanking and praising God, and then end the day the same way. Beginning the day begun in thankfulness and praise will determine your mindset for the day. Ending the day with thanksgiving and praise will make you realize that God is working in and through you. 

How important is this assignment? Well, for David to have assigned it at all, shows that it is vital. Each and every morning and night, be attentive—specifically give thanks and praise to God. 

But what if I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, do I still have to thank and praise God? Especially on those mornings! For what better way to get an attitude adjustment, then to attentively thanks and praise God?! It's hard to have a bad attitude when thanking and praising Almighty God! 

Thanks Living is fully accepting the assignment of thanking and praising God each and every morning and night. A day that starts with thankfulness and praise will end on a high note!

What type of day would it be....

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 13. Here is what I learned.

I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms— I’m celebrating your rescue. Psalm 13:5 (MSG)

But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation. Psalm 13:5 (AMP)

But I trust in Your faithful love; my heart leaps at the thought of imminent deliverance by You. Psalm 13:5 (VOICE)

As I read Psalm 13:5 this morning.. wow what a picture. Throwing myself headlong into the arms of God, leaning on Him, my heart leaps..... kind of reminds me of the pictures we seen when our Military Heroes return from their deployment. The men and women RUN toward their families, and grab hold of each other... never wanting to let go. 

As I think of Psalm 13:5, I’m so thankful first of all, that God’s arms are waiting for me! Secondly, that because of God’s love and mercy I can run to Him at anytime. Thirdly, that He will hold me tight and love me with an ever-lasting love. And lastly, this is great reason to rejoice and be glad! 

Since I can lean on God and throw myself headlong into His arms anytime.... I should do it everyday! Not just when I’m in trouble, or when things around me look bad. God is not just a God for the bad times, He’s a God for the great times too! Yet when things are going well, we often forget about God. Then something tragic happens, such as the bombing in Boston, then we turn to God— and He’s there waiting. 

What type of day would it be

if I’d begin it by “throwing myself headlong into the arms of God”?

What type of day would it be

if I leaned on God throughout the entire day? 

What type of day would it be

if my heart was leaping all the time

because I remembered that God is a loving and merciful God?

What type of day would it be.......

I think it would be a pretty amazing and a most positive day!  

Magnificent morning. Positive day. Peaceful night.

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 92. Here is what I learned.

It is good to ·tell of [proclaim] your ·love [loyalty] in the morning and of your ·loyalty [faithfulness] at night. Psalm 92:2 (EXB)

It is good to announce your mercy in the morning and your faithfulness in the evening. Psalm 92:2 (GW)

To speak of Your unfailing love in the morning and rehearse Your faithfulness as night begins to fall. Psalm 92:2 (VOICE)

Morning: dawn, the beginning of the day

Night: end of the day, darkness

Mornings can be mayhem, mishmash, monstrosity or magnificent, marvelous--depending on how I choose to START my day.

On March 23, 2013, my Ponder Morsel from Psalm 57:8, was Waking up with Great Anticipation! “Psalm 57:8 expresses the same thrill of anticipation concerning praising God. The very thought of praising and giving thanks to God, wakes me up rejoicing! Literally, waking singing a song! ” Waking up with Great Anticipation!

If I want to have a magnificent, marvelous morning, it HAS to start with praising and honoring God! That’s the ONLY way to start my day on a positive note! I’ve learned that when I START my day praising God, I have a “better” day. No, praising God doesn’t guarantee that everything will go smoothly. But, rather I have a “better” day because I have God’s perspective on the day. 

Uneasy, unpeaceful, unquiet, unrestful—.uncertainty, uneasiness producing a restless and nightmarish night OR unafraid, unnervous, unworried—unbend, unlax, unwind and drift off into a peaceful sleep. Which night sounds magnificent and marvelous? I’ll pick the unafraid, unnervous, unworried—unbend, unlax, unwind and drift off into a peaceful sleep.

I’ve endured those unrestful, nightmarish nights mostly due to my pain medications. However, I have learned that even in the midst of those unrestful nights, if my focus changes from the pain and uneasiness, to praising God and His faithfulness, I am overcome with peace. 

If I want a magnificent, marvelous morning make my day awesome, the moment I awake, I need to praise God for His lovingkindness. And if I want to enjoy a night, unafraid, unnervous, unworried—and drift off into a peaceful sleep, I need to end my day praising God for His faithfulness! Praising God changes a magnificent morning into a positive day and creates a peaceful night. 

A magnificent, marvelous morning, a positive day, and an unafraid, unnervous, unworried—peaceful night is possible, if I only take the time to praise and honor my amazing and wonderful God. 

What makes you smile?

I was reading a comic and started laughing. Later in the day, I thought of that comic again, and couldn't help but smile. This got me thinking. What makes me smile? Some days it doesn't take much. A funny comic, a joke, an email or note from a friend, a TV show, or Max doing something cute.
No matter what makes me smile or laugh, I always feel better afterward. If I laugh early in the day, it seems I laugh at more things throughout the day. I guess because I enjoyed laughing so much, I'm looking for things to make me laugh, so I can enjoy laughing again! Sounds silly, but it's true! Laughing in the morning, puts me in a "laughing frame of mind".
Different things make each of us smile, but we all smile at something. What would happen if instead of passing along the gossip and negative news at the water cooler and through emails, we passed along smiles and laughter? Think for a moment how you feel after you laugh or smile. Now think of giving that same feeling to others. If we all felt that good, the people with whom we interact would be happy, and kinder.
So the next time you smile or laugh, pass it on! Creating a positive day...is done one smile at a time!

To get you started:
A little girl while holding her stomach, approached her Mom saying, "Mommy my stomach hurts." Her Mom replied, "That's because it's empty, you have to put something into it!"
Later that day when the Pastor came over for dinner. The Pastor started to feel bad, holding his head, he said, "I have a terrible headache!" The little girl looked up at the Pastor giving her sweetest smile that only a child can give. Then she said, "Your head hurts, because it's empty. You have to put something in it!"

If you smiled, you've just started creating a positive day!