Good reasons for praise ...

Monday, Aug 27, 2012. Why should you praise something or someone? Perhaps some product is fantastic … then you might be excited and you praise it. Perhaps someone has helped you a lot … then you might want to praise him.

Praise of the little things …

The sky is fantastic this morning. It is cloudless here over Frankfurt … the sun is still low, but you can see that there will be a wonderful day coming, full of sunshine, with the warm breeze of a late summer. I just got my morning coffee, … some bread and marmalade, kids are on their way to school, everything here is fine.

My computer is working well - just booted and I am now looking into our Christian networking activities. It is not the newest computer, but it is still doing its job well. I've got a home office and a cheap internet connection of good speed … what else do you need?

Are the little things filling my heart with thankfulness? Are all the beautiful the little things filling my heart with joy and praise? I admit that my mind is more filled with the professional challenges which our activities bring with them. I am more concerned with the things which do not work as we would like them to work in our operational center. But there is a fight in my mind and in my heart - to let thankfulness win and approach the challenges from the mode of thankfulness.

Praise …

Why do the apostles speak so much about praise. Why do the psalms praise the Lord so much? What is the reason and logic of praise? What is the overall setup of our praise? Why should we praise the Lord and what is going on when we do?

It is so easy to get into a mode of moaning. It is so easy to get into a habit of complaining. There are things which are not good in our immediate environment. We are pushed around by stupid rules which do not fit or by people who do not support us as they should. We can easily get into a grumpy attitude … but it does not help at all and it is far of the whole of reality!

God is there. He is the Lord. He is the savior. He is the loving origin of creation. Reality is greater than our problems. Reality has much more perspective than we can see or imagine. He is great and wonderful, and he will not leave us behind. That is reality. He is with the little ones. He is close to the brokenhearted. It is good news which is coming to us and which leads us into praise … even if there are many things which are not as they should be. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts