Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.

• Psalm 95:2

“Often I pray intensely for something and wait eagerly for the answer. If You grant my request, I respond joyfully and thankfully. But rather than lingering in a grateful attitude, I tend to move on too quickly to asking for the next thing. Lord, instead of experiencing only a short-lived burst of gratitude, I want to learn to remain in an attitude of thankful Joy-letting my gratefulness spill over into the future.”

• Sarah Young, Jesus Listens (devotion for 29 February)

I can so relate to the author’s prayer.  It is so tempting to move on to the next thing.

We seem to be insatiable.

But when praying for other people, there is always someone else who gets sick.  There seems to be at least one person’s relative who passes away every month.

You don’t have to have a large church for that to happen.  You don’t have to have a church with a diverse demographic, but if your church is mostly older people, you might have more of it.

But I look at my daily prayers and even then, my attitude of gratitude is not up to par.

God provides my needs.  I do not have truckloads of money being delivered and I say, “Wow!  Thank you, Lord!”  No, it’s the usually income and the usual outflow.  Sometimes, I go in the hole a little.  Most of the time, I break even.

But what does God promise?  He keeps His eyes on us, and we get what we need.  So, why not be grateful for that?

And my daily prayer each morning as I get up and try to move around the house is, “Lord, please, help me.”  But I only “often” say, “Thank you” while I daily say that prayer.

Exercising an attitude of gratitude means thanking God for the ordinary.  The special are easily noted, but so many days are ordinary.

Lord, thank you.  I had another usual day.  Nothing messed up very much.  No real crises.  And You were with me all day long.  That provides me with so much to be grateful for.  You know my needs better than I do, Lord.  Thank you, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.