Psalm 148 1-9
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens;praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon;praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created, and he established them for ever and ever—he issued a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth,you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds,stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills,fruit trees and all cedars.
The rain that we just had was so refreshing and renewing to my spirit and soul. I love it when it rains, perhaps because I am a native Southern Californian, and it doesn’t rain here very often. I love the way it smells before it rains and how everything is washed clean. I love seeing a rainbow in the sky, and we had a beautiful one with this past storm. Everything just seems brighter after the storm because all the dust and dirt has been washed off. However, the winter storms are my favorite because if we are lucky and it is cold enough, we get snow on our local mountains and we can see the stunning sight of snow-covered mountains here in HB. We are blessed to live in a place where you can stand on the beach and look at snow covered mountains through the palm trees! Not everyone gets to experience that in real life.
We need to remember to praise God for all that he created for we are so blessed by his creations. We also need to remember to share that praise with others. To reflect the love of God that we feel and to publicly praise God for our many blessings. Perhaps in this new year we can work on remembering to praise God for all the blessings that we are surrounded by every day. Yes, we have our troubles and issues, but we live in what my father used to say was the best area, in the best state, in the best country, in an amazing time. We need to remember that and be thankful.
Suzanne
Gracious and Loving God, In this new year create in us a heart that remembers to praise you for all that you have done for us. Help us to remember to know how blessed we truly are. As we are slowly seeing the light our of this storm on COVID, help us to remember the important lessons that we have hopefully learned. That we need to treat each other with kindness and respect and that we need to take care of each other. Help us to live more closely in the ways that Jesus taught us to live. We know that we will not be perfect but help us to continue to strive to love each other more. Help us to see your light in this world and to reflect it others that we encounter. Amen