The Song That Never Ends

My blog postings have been brief this week, because I have been helping my daughter with her energetic 11-week-old baby.  My arms have grown stronger, my heart fonder, and sleep, well, as a good friend of mine used to pray when her four children were small, “LORD, just make it enough.”  My grandson sleeps well at night (hallelujah), but doesn’t want to miss the sunrise.

The other morning, my daughter greeted me and asked me how I was feeling.  I replied with a short litany of complaints, all of which were true, but all of which made me sound like a curmudgeon – ill-tempered, complaining, and discontent.  As I walked back to the bedroom to get something, I said to myself, “Well, aren’t we Mr. Grumpy this morning.”

 

Words of discontent set the tone for the entire day.

How different my day would be established, how improved my attitude, how transformed my interactions with others, if I focused not on complaints, but on joy.  Not to artificially sugar-coat the sour, but to live radically in the reality of God’s goodness. 

 

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD my God,

         You are very great!  

                         Psalm 104.1

Memorize and repeat, as needed.

My dear grandmother lived with our family when I was growing up.  She struggled with rheumatoid arthritis from her mid-30s, hobbling along in her daily tasks, and would look at any one of us with defiance in her eyes if we even suggested she sit down.  We knew that she was in pain, she didn’t have to tell us that.  She knew that she hurt, but she also knew that if she dwelled on it, she had lost the battle.  She chose to dwell on the things and relationships that gave her strength.  Her well-worn Bible was within an arm’s length of her chair and bed.  She lived to the age of 81, no complaint in sight, fierce in her love for others.

Sure, there will always be difficulties.  EVERYONE struggles with something.  Everyone.  But there is also the unfailing strength of the LORD.  And I am very aware that my actions, mindset, and words dramatically impact everyone around me.  Every day.

It is time to learn the words to a new song, and hum it in the face of whatever comes down my path.  There is strength in the LORD.  That is reality.  My complaining just drowns out the tune.

Sing to Him a new song…

                     Psalm 33.3

(not the same old dirge)