Praise of Today

 

This week, we are turning our hearts to the words of hymns.  The last two days we dwelt and dived into the hymn, The Summons.  Today, I turn to another favorite of my, that sends goosebumps racing and running down my spine every time we sing it, Perpetual Praise.  Pray these words with me:

 

Your many blessings are new each morning

And with each dawning we sing your praise!

From early morning to restful evening our grateful hearts sing praises!

Your love and mercy, shining bright, bring hope and joy as we follow Your Light.

You breathe within us.

You sing within us.

You move our hearts to perpetual praise!

Through all of our days ~ perpetual praise!

 

Our hymnal is a prayer book and theological textbook.  Part of what makes any hymn a prayer is finding space and place to pause; letting the words sink and sing to our souls.  Based on what you just prayed above, what is a new blessing this morning?  This doesn’t have to be spectacular or special (see Monday’s meditation).  The blessing can be as ordinary as a bird singing, a phone call from a friend, or the smile of the clerk at the grocery store.  Is there a dawning (or newness) you are sensing in your life ~ physically or emotionally or relationally?  As May wraps up and winds down, breathe in the breath of God that is always a Pentecost moment – over 22,000 times each day we breathe.  Where are you singing praise to God and where do you need God’s mercy to shine bright today to follow God’s guiding light? 

 

Take a breath that God is breathing into you.

Sing a note that God is evoking within you.

Place your hands on your heart for the ways God is pulsating within you.

 

May these words move in our life now and in the hours that unfold today.  Amen.