Praising God

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits..." Psalm 103:1-2

Last night I facilitated a great conversation about praising God in our combined adult Bible class, Going Deep. I had asked the tables to discuss a small way that they have seen God at work. After that I wondered if the table discussion itself could be considered praise of God. One of the points of conversation centered on whether everything we did could be considered praise of God. This was an interesting development, especially as I asked a followup question, "Are you sure everything we do can be considered praise of God?"

Truly the summons to "let everything that has breath praise the Lord" (Psalm 150:6) is present! We certainly need to praise the Lord with everything. I just wonder, as I mentioned as an example last night, whether we would consider even lament as praise of God. Praise, in my mind, could be contained within lament, yet I think they are two distinct things. Is praise just all the good fluffy bunny stuff? Is there a darker side to praise that still contains trust?

I tend to think expressions of praise (both verbal and non-verbal, human and non-human) include expressions of thanks, blessing, magnifying, glorifying, and singing. And my last post about talking to trees betrays my thinking in terms of all creations' ability to speak. What do you think: is there a line to help us understand where praise begins and ends? (leave a quick comment on the blog)

Talking to Trees

Have you ever talked to trees? I did that again yesterday. Here is what I heard them say:

I heard God's creation reaching out as high as possible toward the sky. They were grounded, though, accomplishing the purposes for which they were created. Their shout was clearly a communal one saying, "We move together, intertwined! Each one of us affected by the other, we know it is best to draw on that blessing." I am humbled at their voice; they proclaim their creator every time.

Willing to risk sounding insane, I think everyone needs to talk to trees every now and then! Their message is captivating!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Psalm 19:1-4a

The Silent Voice Speaks Volumes

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." Psalm 40:1-2

I find myself struggling to understand this period in my life. This semester is full of busyness that never ends. I go from one thing to the next to the next to the next. When I have a free moment, I am thinking about how to get ahead a little more on the endless tasks.

God is silent. Freedom. God speaks. Do I listen? I want to listen. All the other things jockey for my attentive ear, but his voice is there. I am compelled to listen, to put behind all the other seemingly very important matters and just listen with attention. What am I listening for? God.

Just stop and listen to the silent voice that speaks volumes.

Listen...Speak

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

I heard (or read) somewhere recently that Jews expression of religion hinges on the Shema, "Hear of Israel..." (Deut 6:4-6) and that our expression of religion hinges on our confession "Jesus is Lord." Interesting! One focuses on listening, the other speaking.

In light of this idea, the Ecclesiastes text has been talking to me for the last almost two weeks. I sit and wonder what to say?

Silence

I went to a Randy Harris class during the ACU lectures this year. It was entitled, "I'm not really all that humble." It was an intriguing class. He basically offered his comments on two old guys' thoughts on the subject. Jeremy Taylor and St. Benedict. Actually, those were the only two days I was in the class. On the third day he discussed how Jesus addressed the topic, but I wasn't in the class.

In Randy's discussion on humility during the second day he made a comment about silence. His phrase about practicing silence is, "Only speak what love requires." I think that is pretty cool advice. So, in some situations, I would need to speak because that is the loving thing to do. In other situations, I would need to refrain for the sake of love. These are some words that I am trying to put into practice recently.

Critical Update

I wonder why I am so critical of things. Most of the time, no one ever knows about it, but I definitely think about stuff all the time. Not only about myself, but also with others. I struggle with the right time to express my criticism and when to refrain.

A little while ago (last Spring), I really made a mistake without even knowing it. I was being critical with a student who needed some positive reinforcement. This student gave me a paper that we were going to use for our Mexico trip and wanted me to look over it. It was written in Spanish. I had looked over it and noticed several grammatical errors. It was just wrong. When she came back to my office a couple of days later. I just showed her some of the mistakes I saw. I also asked her about the progress with the other things she was working on.

In my mind, she was a solid student. Someone I didn't need to think about how to encourage all the time...so I thought. Apparently, I really hurt her. She hid it really well, but she eventually let me know about it. I realized that I need to be in the business of contructive criticism. This is encouraging people, yet offering suggestions for improvement too.

What sparked this thought is our secretary. I asked her to make some copies for me, front and back. When I got them back, they were one-sided...and with paper clips. The paper clip thing didn't bother me, I just asked her to staple them for me. But the front and back thing did bother me.

I am not going to say anything to her about this because I just need to get over that. However, I do think I need to communicate that I need her to listen to me a little more carefully. Lord, give me wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent.