my strength: a thankful mouth

Last weekend, I had a little list of the last few things I wanted to get done around the house before the arrival of number three.  Let me rephrase - I had a list of things I wanted MATT to get done around the house.  One of those things was hanging curtains... in like three or four rooms in our house.

Long story short.  I wasn't around when these curtains were being hung, but I had given Matt an 86" curtain and asked him to please hang the rod so that the curtains touched the floor. Aaaaand when I got home, he had done just what I asked, but I realized that my curtains weren't actually long enough, so the height of the rod was just barely above the window, and well - if you've been on Pinterest lately, this is just (supposedly) not acceptable.  Slash (I love writing out that word) we hung curtains high in our living room and I LOVE it, and I don't think I can go back.

So basically Matt had hung curtains in three rooms, but in two of them the rod was too low (my fault), and honestly at the time (on very little sleep - as I am now), I was frustrated!  Not with Matt, but just with the fact that he had put some decent time and effort into doing something for me that is not his favorite thing to do, and it was probably gonna have to be re-done. Ugh.

Insert growing opportunity.  Through my time in the Scriptures recently, I had been (and keep) seeing this theme over and over and over again.  "Give thanks in all circumstances" and "Whatever is praiseworthy, think about such things" and "[give] thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of Jesus" and "I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful deeds.  I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name."

God is showing me I literally cannot do two things at once.  I cannot complain and give thanks at the same time.  It is not possible.  I can't think self-centered thoughts and think God-centered thoughts at the same time.  Even the slight rolling of my eyes at an unpleasant circumstance is a denial of his unfailing, providential love for me.

So last Saturday night, I decided to just push it out of my mind, and then I would see how I felt about the curtains in the morning.  I wake up, sit down to read my Bible, and all I could think about was those dang curtains!  My mind was just gravitating toward the negative... So I prayed for God to please help me, and then I opened my "Jesus Calling" devotional instead of my Bible (in all honesty because I was so focused on the dang curtains that concentrating on Scripture was proving to be a challenge).  I kid you not, this is what it said:

"When you focus on... situations that displease you {ahem, curtains}, your mind also becomes darkened.  You take for granted life, salvation... and countless other gifts from me.  You look for what is wrong and refuse to enjoy life until it is fixed." - Jesus Calling pg. 101

So I have literally been choosing to give thanks.  Sometimes it's easier than others, but I think that's why the Bible so often refers to our praise as "the sacrifice of praise."  Because you literally have to set aside your will, your thoughts, your frustrations and dreams and replace them with something that honors and delights God instead.

Now that God's been repeating this theme in my time with him for like three weeks, I can feel the constant tension in everyday life.

• Someone cuts me off in traffic - I can curse them ("What are doing, you idiot?!") or I can set aside my frustration, and give thanks... not necessarily for the fact that I got cut off but maybe for the fact that I am not in control and that even when I am getting cut off in traffic, my Father is even working that for my good.  
• Someone ignores, offends, or acts unlovingly towards me - I can ruminate over their wrongdoing and my hurt.  I can act like a victim. OR I can set aside the personal feelings of offense and pray for eyes to see them like God sees them.  I can ask for his love for them (a prayer, I am realizing that God LOVES to answer).  I can thank the Lord that even though I don't have unfailing love from every fallen human, that I have it from my Creator, God.
• OR if there's not really anything to think about, and my mind is in autopilot, I can switch OFF the autopilot - which typically gravitates to either past or future concerns - and instead choose to find things that are praiseworthy and give thanks.

The last thing I want to say is when we praise Jesus, our praise is SO POWERFUL.  Psalm 8:2 says, "Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger." (NIV)

Think about a baby.  A baby has no defense, no power at all.  And yet, God says that the praise from a baby's mouth can silence or still the enemy.  Praising God is literally a weapon.  On that note, complaining seems to breed more complaining.  Worship stops the crazy, downward spiral of negativity and anger.

So there it is.  We can't do two things at once.  The next time an unpleasant circumstance presents itself, let's be quick to bring Jesus the sacrifice of praise.  I have now been awake for four hours.  The end.