A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Most mornings, I spend some time reading from the Book of Common Prayer.  I try to find one scripture that stands out to me, a timely word that gives me something to think about during the day.
This morning, that verse was in Psalms:  "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving..." (Psalms 50:14a)

When is thanksgiving a sacrifice?  The Psalm goes on to say, "perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble..." (v.14b, 15a)

It is when a person is in trouble that thanksgiving is a sacrifice.  Lacy was in the hospital ten years ago, gravely ill with pneumonia.  We were allowed in to see him twice a day; one hour in the morning, one in the evening.  I often stood in his hospital room with the sound of the ventilator filling the silence, looking out the window, and offering thanksgiving; Thank you, God for the sunshine.  Thank you for the doctors and nurses.  Thank you for the courage to get up in the morning.  As my list grew, my anxiety decreased.  With thankfulness, I called for help, and God heard me.

Again we face a grave illness with Lacy, but this time there will be no recovery.  This is an illness that will cost us more than we feel we can give.   Giving thanks now - purposefully finding joy in God's provision - is a sacrifice.

This does not erase our suffering.  We still suffer, but we experience joy in the midst of suffering.  We can feel God's grace and His love.  For that, we are thankful.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 15, 2015 at 1:25 PM

    Thanks for sharing, Debbie. Please let us know if we can do anything.

    -Dero

    ReplyDelete

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