OCTOBER 23 "GOOD MORNING! AND PRAISE THE LORD!"

Wow, I wish I felt like that in the morning!  Somebody has had way too much Java this morning. "It is good to give thanks to the lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre. You thrill me,Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done."  Somebody got off to a good start this morning, was it you? We're waking up tired, very tired. We're thinking about that dead end job we have to go to everyday, wishing we would win the lottery so we could quit, oh but we don't play the lottery, great, then we'll never get out of that dead end job. We still don't know how the rent is going to get paid, who's going to be able to fix the car, how our daughter is going to get out of this crazy relationship, how you’re going to deal with your husband being laid off, etc..etc…and then we open our bible and read about this man who seems to have so much joy and victory in his life. He seems to have so much joy and contentment in his relationship with God. What is wrong with me? Maybe I need another cup of coffee, oh never mind, I'm going to be late for work.....Through out the day I will think about what I read this morning and wonder, "am I missing something? Why is my walk with God nothing compared to what I read this morning?

I am not in any way thinking of turning from my faith or my church. I love my church and I am glad I’m a Christian, but this morning, to be honest, I just can't relate to this man's abounding joy and thrill to be a Christian and thrilled with what God is doing". I don't know if this is in the bible to encourage me or discourage me? And at night.....I am so tired I can barely remember to take off my shoes before I hit the sack. Last thing I'm going to do is sit there and ponder on God's faithfulness, it is all I can do to utter a quick "thank-you Lord for getting me through this day" and then it's lights out! Maybe if I didn't work so hard, maybe if I didn't have to run the kids all over the place, pay bills, go to meetings, school events, work events and now our church just announced a week long revival, oh yippee yay! That means more laundry piling up, more late nights, getting the kids to bed late or staying up trying to get homework finished and falling that much further behind. I wonder if Christians were meant not to work and just sit at home all day, be well rested and meditate on the things of God and how good He is? I don't think so because His Word says, "if a man will not work then let him not eat".  So I must work, juggle life and still some how, masterfully figure out how to find time & energy to be as in love and appreciative of my Savior as the writer of our Psalm today. Is it possible, really?!  When these words were penned had God ever thought of the life the 21st Century Christian would be living? Wednesday night I sat in church with one eye open and one eye closed, and then switched to the other eye, hoping the preacher would not notice if I had at least one eye open.  Sunday night services our becoming more of a chore as I think of all I need to get done before Monday and how much more, I'd rather be sitting at home, in my pajamas with my feet up on the couch. Am I evil, am I not saved? I don't think so, I don't feel evil, I think I'm saved. I agree with everything that I read today and I would say, "yes and amen" God is good and great and He does have unfailing love, I just don't know if it would be that early in the morning or that late at night that I would express that, but somewhere in between the madness of life, I must find time to reflect on my God and how good He is!