Thanks to the Lord ...

Tuesday, Feb 3, 2015. Are you a thankful man or woman? Do you know the feeling of being thankful? Do you have a heart full of thanks? Perhaps it is different, your heart is full of anger, or full of disappointment, or full of fear? What is making our heart thankful?

My Mood and Motivation …

What is the main feeling which fills your days? In some periods of our life we might feel mainly disappointed, or mainly full of fear. That can be linked to experiences we have made. It can be strongly influenced by all different kinds of bad things which we had to face.

But life is not as easy. There are some people, who react to an experience with thankfulness, others react to the same experience with anger. When someone is challenged, he loves it. Someone else hates it.

When our kids were very young, one particular experience had a lasting impression on me. When kids are young, they tend to tell you what they feel. They tend to tell you exactly, what they think - even if it is anger or disappointment. As a parent, you do not take it personally when a kid is disappointed, for example, when you stop paying for another ice cream after it had two already. But you could take it personal - and sometimes things hit you somewhere deep inside. But it is not necessary. You could also stay calm and stop things with one sentence: two ice cream portions is enough. Dot.

Reasons for Thanksfulness …

There are many reasons to be thankful in our life. And when we open our heart to God, this thankfulness becomes the main feeling and center of our life. Thankfulness is a reaction pattern, which fits the wonderful reality of the living God. Let us listen to the song of Psalm 136:

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; 4 to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136, 1-4)

Psalm 136 is a long song. It looks at the experiences of the people of Israel. It looks at the love of the most high, his great love. When you are familiar with the history of Israel, as described in the Old Testament, this song becomes very transparent and full of meaning. But also when you are not an expert on the history of Israel, you can joint the choir and let your heart sing the tune of thankfulness. It will not keep you unchanged! (RWEP) ... more texts