Happy Wednesday, friend :)
Let me tell you about our Thanksgiving morning. Everyone woke up grumpy for some reason or another (myself included... full transparency) and the usual battles commenced over the breakfast table.
"MOM! He's looking at me!"
Matt, in the spirit of the holiday, attempted to bolster the mood by asking everyone what they were thankful for. Ellie (age 2) responded by grunting and a scowl. Great start. Bless Cooper (4), he shouted, "Santa Clause!" To which Emma (6), in classic big sister fashion, replied, "He's not real, Cooper."
Happy Holidays indeed.
I love that we start the holiday season off with Thanksgiving. It is a reminder to slow down and be grateful for how much the Lord has blessed us. It's a battle these days as Black Friday has slowly spread its arm over the whole month of November. Our inboxes are filled with gift guides and sale items. It's so tempting to rush past gratitude in our attempt to get to the next thing.
And honestly, I do the same thing in my prayers. I skip over thanksgiving and jump straight into the asking. My list of requests sit in my brain on standby while I scramble to think of two or three things to thank God for before I forget what I need Him to do. Gratitude becomes a formality instead of the foundation.
I've been reading in 1 Chronicles about the Levites, who were a tribe set apart to minister before the Lord. In chapter 25 it says that 288 people were assigned to a ministry of praise. If you divide that by the twenty-four hours in a day, that's twelve people praising God every single hour.
It struck me, praise wasn't something they squeezed in after the "real work." It was the work.
God is worthy of all the praise. And in Christ, He calls us His own:
"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood… that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light." — 1 Peter 2:9
So as we make our way through December, maybe we can pause long enough to remember:
Praise is not something extra. It's part of who we are. And even our small, simple gratitude counts.