Listen

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth! Be happy! Rejoice out loud! Sing your praises!

Let the sea and everything in it roar; the world and all its inhabitants too. Let all the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains rejoice out loud altogether.

Psalm 98:4, 7-8

Think

I was walking down the street recently when I noticed. I don’t always notice. Many times, I’m on my phone reading email or checking Twitter while I walk. Other times, I would have my headphones in listening to a podcast. I count myself lucky that I actually heard what was happening. I looked around for the source, but couldn’t find it. A nice woman across the street interrupted my puzzlement. “Do you see it?” she asked. “It has a bright red head.” I admitted that I didn’t. She pointed me a bit further up the tree I was focusing on. Then I saw it, just pecking away at the tree’s bark.

Now I’m not going to claim that the woodpecker on that day was praising God when it was probably just looking for lunch. What I will claim, though, is that praise is happening throughout all creation if we’ll just notice every once in a while. I was just blessed to notice that day.

Byron Vance

Pray

God, you notice us, all that we do and say, think and imagine. I pray, Lord, that you would give me the presence of being to notice when your creation is speaking your name, shouting up praise. And I pray that I would join my voice in with theirs to praise you as well. Amen.

Go

Go into your day knowing that even though God knows all about us, God still chooses to be our friend.

Be a friend of God today.