Optimist Roundtable 9/23
By Martha Sykes
How often do you praise God? Praising God can be a part of our every day life and can change our attitudes because of our praise. Where can we praise God? Why should we praise God? How can we praise God?
All of these questions can be answered in Psalm 150:1-6. On Sundays, many people gather in church to worship and praise God. When we are at church camp, we praise God all day every day up in the mountains of Green Hills camp. It doesn’t matter where we are, we can take a moment and praise God. This particular psalm tells us in verse one to praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in His mighty heavens.
The praises that we sing or proclaim in worship on a Sunday or anytime we go to church needs to have an impact and shape our every day life. If we let that praise influence how we live on Monday or any other day of the week, it can change our perception of what goes on around us. We need to share that praise where we work or wherever we spend our time.
One part of the psalm tells us to” let everything that breathes praise the Lord”! It is not just for professionals but for every single person in the world to praise God for what He does for us!! It is like that song that says “praise him in the morning, praise him in the evening, praise Him at supper time”. There is no special time or place but what matters is that we praise Him for whatever our heart feels blessed by every day. Having gratitude for our blessings and giving God the glory for what we have, helps us to feel happier and at peace.
I read about a man who went to Mother Teresa complaining about a superior in his religious order whose rules he felt were interfering with his ministry.
“ My vocation is to work with lepers”, he told Mother Teresa, “I want to spend myself for the lepers.”
she stared at him for a moment then smiled. “Brother,” she said gently, “ your vocation is not to work for lepers , your vocation is to belong to Jesus.”
You see, our praise to Jesus needs to be taken to wherever we are and must be displayed into our daily life as we serve God’s people.
