Verse of the Day for December 9

This is an old man's psalm. Earlier he asks God not to forsake him when he is old and grayheaded, and by the end he has decided what he will do with the years he has left.

Count the instruments he names. The psaltery, the harp, his lips, his soul, his tongue. Everything he has is being enlisted, one piece at a time.

And every line starts with a choice. I will also praise thee. My lips shall greatly rejoice. These are not reports of how he feels. They are decisions about what he will do next.

Joy for this man is not a mood that falls on him. It is a hundred small choices, the harp picked up again, the tongue turned toward thy righteousness all the day long. Some of those choices were made while enemies were still seeking his hurt.

You may not own a harp. You have a mouth and the next ten minutes. On the walk to the shop, choose one thing to thank God for out loud. Then choose again an hour later. That is how a whole day of praise is built.

Joy is often made of small decisions repeated.

Whatever you have in your hands can be turned into praise.