I have to admit that I didn’t think this up. This actually comes from “My Morning Walks With God”, a Facebook group that (like Heaven On Wheels) offers daily devotionals. The author, Greg A. Lane, has written several books that offer wonderful inspiration.
Anyway, on August 16 Mr. Lane offered a way to show your gratitude to God. He was thinking about Psalms 118:24:
“This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalms 118:24 NLT
and realized that “the day” can easily be substituted with any other thing in this amazing universe. Barb and I both used this during our Intercessory Prayer hour yesterday to show our gratitude, and copied down a list of the things that we were grateful for. At the time, we were sitting outdoors at a picnic table in a deserted part of Yellowstone National Park.
My list looked like this:
Yellowstone National Park
Nature
Birds
Prayer time
Barb
Safe trip
Forests
RV
Hearing Aids
Plentiful food
Flowers
Good health
Weather, rain
Clean, refreshing water
The Living Water of Jesus Christ
Retirement
Being able to work around problems when we’re camping
Beauty in the world and being able to appreciate it
How does this work? Well, just substitute the thing you want to thank God for in place of “the day”:
“This is the Yellowstone National Park the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it”
“These are the flowers the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
“This is the beauty in the world that I am able to appreciate. I will rejoice and be glad!”
You get the picture. Both of us found this to be a simple, structured way to thank the Lord for all that he has given us. As we were sitting in this still, quiet place, surrounded by peace, my heart filled with unbounded gratitude to our Creator. He is who we owe everything to. What an easy way to thank the Lord!