Chuck's Harem: An interesting thought...

Chuck's Harem

overdeveloped and undersized or oversized and underdeveloped ..... pick one...... we have both

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

An interesting thought...

I'm learning about praise right now in my life.

I used to proudly think I was pretty adept at praising, as the words "Thank you Jesus" and "Praise the Lord" weren't far from my lips most of the time. Whenever I was in an uncomfortable situation, I thought I was a pretty good praiser when I'd exclaim "Oh well, Praise the Lord anyways".

Recently, after reading the book summaries of "Prison to Praise" and "Power to Praise" I discovered that my skills of praising weren't all that great. In fact, I was probably closer to being a chronic grumbler than a skilled and professional praiser.

The thought of praising the Lord for the bad things instead of simply thanking him for the good things and resigning myself to "think happy thoughts" while going through something, was a new concept for me.

Not necessarily new in that I hadn't heard about it, or thought of it once or twice in my life, more new in that I'd never actually thought of a practical application of doing it. Previously, the thought of praising the Lord for the bad things seemed almost sacriligious, because it seemed like I was taking the blame off of "the enemy attacking me" and putting it as "the Lord allowed this to happen to me". And I somehow always forgot to add the clause that He allowed it for my good.

After seriously contemplating these strange thoughts for a while, it kinda sorta started to make sense. After all, I know that as a kid I'd memorized the verse "In everything give thanks", but I hadn't really thought he meant...everything...

So a few days ago, after having read those books and had small mindset changes, I decided I wanted to try this whole "praise the Lord for the bad stuff as well as the good" dealio. I mean, it couldn't be too bad, right? It does actually make sense, because you're getting your mind off of yourself, and your situation, and instead getting your eyes on the Lord and trusting that "though he slay me, yet will I trust in him"...and even praise Him for doing so.

...Three days and counting since I made that small commitment, and I'm discovering I'm going to need more than just small mindset changes.

Take for example Monday. Eternally the busiest day of my week. Already, upon arriving at work and making my daily to-do list, I find I have got wayyy too much to do for one day, and somehow I've got to try to fit it all in, and get it done well. Then, halfway through the day, I have a meeting with some of my coworkers and find that there's more work for me to do...throw in the addition that I was also not feeling well, and I've got quite the list to be on a major bummer.

No, no, nobody would see that I was on that bummer, because I would put on my smiling face, say I could handle it, and go on my internally grumbling way.

...Day one, and I've already failed a test...or have I?

The Lord is always faithful to punch through with His help though, and halfway through my grumbling spree I was reminded of a key quote I'd memorized some time before. "Keep your eyes off yourself and your situation, and on Me and the keys. Praise Me, even when you don't feel like it, and I will take care of the situation and bring about Rom. 8:28, even from the most trying of circumstances"...I was convicted. Here I had made all these grand plans of being the worlds newest, bestest praise warrior, and within a day of my commitment, I'm on a greased downward slide to becoming the world's bestest internal grumbler.

So, I decided to put feet to my faith, and put into action the commitments I'd made the day before.

I started praising the Lord for every gosh darn bad thing I could think of...

...But when I did, an amazing thing would happen...Whenever I'd say "Thank you Lord for such-and-such (bad thing)" my thoughts would keep going and I'd hear a "because it's helping me to learn such-and-such (good thing)". For example, I'd say "Thank you Lord that I was given so much work to do today" and He'd finish up with "because it shows that I (me) have been faithful, and people trust that I'll get the job done".

Soon it wasn't just empty praising anymore. Because there was an actual reason why all of this stuff was happening, and all of it was good!!

I still have a long way to go before I become the world's newest, bestest, praise warrior, but hey, I've found there's hope. And even if I don't get all the work done I'd like, and I come down with the stomach flu, and have to spend the rest of my week in bed, or whatever else could happen to me this week, I know that all I have to do is take my eyes off of myself, and off of my situation, and simply look to the Lord, because I know that He'll take care of the situation, and bring about Rom. 8:28.

...even from the most trying of circumstances...

posted by Woozers @ 7:31 AM

5 Comments:

At 8:48 AM, Liz said…

Great post! praise kicks tail.
At 7:00 PM, Token-Black-Girl said…

Your such a good sample..I'm so glad you work in my department :)
At 8:33 PM, Anonymous said…

So right on Woozers! Those book summaries have changed my whole was of thinking. TG that we've been priviledged to receive so much insight into this incredibly powerful weapon. I sure have a long ways to go, but by God's grace I'll become a master in it's use.
At 12:25 PM, Anonymous said…

Sorry Minichuck, got it wrong. AS a hint to who I am, I miss playing guitar with you. :D
At 11:20 AM, Anonymous said…

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