Praise Matters

​Does  praise really matter? Oh, yes, but exactly what is it? It Is that  occasional exalted feeling of a Sunday morning when the choir is  singing and we lift our voice in praise and adoration to God for His  goodness, kindness, and mercies toward us.  It is merely remembering to  devote a portion of our prayer time to what we think of as praise? Is it  the surge of emotion, spirit, joy, you feel when adoring the Creator?  If we open our eyes and heart to God we can see Him all around us. As  you open your eyes everyday do you pay attention first to the breath you  take? That’s worth a praise.  If you look out your doors, whether the  sun is shining or it’s a gloomy day, there is something about that day  like the leaves on a tree, a bird singing melodies in the atmosphere,   or a cool breeze blowing.  If we stop long enough to quiet our minds to  let the sights penetrate our emotions, reach all the way to the  intellect of your mind you will find something to give Him praise for.

​​It  Is praise when a bad situation turns out well and we murmur: “Thank  You”. Does praise matter? Do you ever think that a singing bird might be  praising God? More and more I think that we are ungrateful when we  don’t do all in our power and His to increase our capacities to enjoy.  But is praise gratitude? Is gratitude praise? On the yes side, in the  purest sense, praise and gratitude are one, if we know God. Gratitude is  an exercise good for the soul.

​The  kind of praise to which the Bible urges us is always, not sometimes,  but always directed away from ourselves and towards God.  We are to  “Praise the Lord” for being Himself. Praise, if its real, must be  honest.

Praise, to me, is the simple, pure essence of just being with Him. In the Book of Praises Joyce Blackburn wrote this poem:

Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord

Because you are alive, you can respond!

Praise is responseOf our total selves
​Or even a part of ourselves
​To the presence and doings of the Lord,
Creator-Redeemer-God.

Praise is the astonishment we express

When touched by his infinity, by his intimacyBy his attention concentrated on each one of us.
​Praise is the silence of awe we feel when we recognize a miracle
The wholeness we feel in the arms of Almighty Love,
The freedom we know, once captured, changed, kindled. Let us respond to the One
​In whom we live and move and have our being.
​
​LET US PRAISE THE LORD . I DARE YOU TO TRY IT!