Farmville Enterprise November 21, 2018
When we determine to take notice and give thanks for the numerous blessings bestowed on us we are more likely to assume a proper posture before God. God is the giver and we are the often-obtuse recipients. In acknowledging the grace and goodness that infiltrate our daily lives we can’t help but be thankful. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” (James 1:17)
Psalm 107 is an uplifting song of thanksgiving. Four archetypes of divine rescues are described and David the psalmist invites those who have been on the receiving end of God’s mercy to give praise. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1) “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” (Psalm 107:8-9) Psalm 118 is another beautiful psalm of thanksgiving.
If you are able, take some time this week reading psalms of praise and thanksgiving as well as listening to a few of your favorite hymns or worship songs. A hymn that I particularly enjoy is one by Katherine K. Davis to the Welsh folk tune THE ASH GROVE. “Let all things now living, a song of thanksgiving to God the Creator triumphantly raise. Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, who guides us and leads to the end of our days. God’s banners fly o’er us; God’s light goes before us, a pillar of fire shining forth in the night, till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, as forward we travel from light into light.”
Another of my favorite thanksgiving hymns was sung in the happy scene of Meg’s wedding in the 1994 version of Little Women. “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies, Lord of all, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the wonder of each hour, of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light. Lord of all, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild. Lord of all to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”
Wherever we find ourselves this Thanksgiving may we focus on the gifts of God and share this encouragement with others.
celiastone 