10,000 Reasons

Sunday, February 23, 2014 (6:52 a.m.)

Mm, Father,

Thank You. I woke up singing to You. The tune first. Unsure even what it was. Then I recognized it. ♫10,000 Reasons♫

Able to readily find the lyrics, here I sit considering them. Taking a page from yesterday's playbook, I rejoice in the fact that I want to ♫Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul Worship His holy name Sing like never before O my soul I'll worship Your holy name♫

So tell me, what does that even look like to You? I call out to You. I want to bless You. To worship Your holy name. But just because I want to, it doesn't change this stubborn streak I've developed. There's still a part of me that claims it doesn't care.

I sense it. I feel it. I try ignoring it. Pretending. Acting as if. Wishing, even attempting to pray it away. YOU know my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength. You know my self talk. Let Your voice speak loudest!

Oh, and it does. Psalm 25:1-2a, “I offer You my heart, Lord God, and I trust You.” And I do. I truly do. Yet, I must confess I know I am not living according to Your will. I continue making less than best choices for myself. There's so much I am refusing to care about. To participate in. “It doesn't matter” seems to have become my mantra. You can change all this.

I want to let go of it all and let You be God of my life. Romans 12:1-2 tells us, “Dear friends, God is good, So I beg you to offer your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to Him.”

Going through the motions, acting as if, faking it 'til we make it can't possibly be what is good and pleasing to You. You are... I started to say, “Truth” and wanted the verse to back that up. Then “good”.

Reading a mini-article in The Learning Bible entitled “I Am” I was referred to Your words in Exodus 3:14. “God said to Moses: I am the eternal God. So tell them [the people of Israel] that the Lord, whose name is 'I Am,' has sent you.”

You remind me of all You are. Which helps me remember that 'You are God so I don't have to be.' Father, there is great freedom in letting You be the God You already are. The God You've always been. The God You ever will be.

Forgive me my self-absorption. Forgive the whines and moans. The “I don't want to”s. The “who cares” and “it doesn't matter”s. I feel quite brat-like and I'd truly like to make better choices. For You!

So here I come back full circle to singing where we began ♫The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning It's time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me Let me be singing when the evening comes♫

Yes Father! Songs of praise. Of hope. ♫You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger Your name is great, and Your heart is kind For all Your goodness I will keep on singing Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find♫

Do Your work in me that I will serve You faithfully this day. I love You Father. And I long to please You with my choices. Do in and with, by and for me all that which I cannot. I love You. Thank You. Amen.

(624 words ~ 8:43 a.m.)