Listen

When the Lord changed Zion’s circumstances for the better, it was like we had been dreaming.

Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter; our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.

It was even said, at that time, among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them!”

Yes, the Lord has done great things for us, and we are overjoyed.

Lord, change our circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste!

Let those who plant with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts.

Let those who go out, crying and carrying their seed, come home with joyful shouts, carrying bales of grain!

Psalm 126

Think

This Thanksgiving week, we discover in the scriptures a recipe for cultivating a life of gratitude…

Ingredient #6: Hope

In Japanese culture they practice the art of Kintsukuroi. This is the mending of broken pottery by joining the pieces back together with gold. The pieces are highly valued not because they are perfect but because they were once broken and have healed. Some call it the “art of precious scars.”

Psalm 126 depicts the great hope of our faith – that God, even in the mess and the muck of our broken world, is making all things new. That our weeping might turn to singing and our tears to laughter. That even the most broken places within ourselves can become beautiful masterpieces in God’s hands. That when we lay our broken pieces at the feet of Jesus, when we open our hands and our hearts revealing our deepest shame, God will not respond with anger but with mercy, love, and renewal.

Kelli Kirksey

Pray

God, please grant me the grace to know you in my life.

Please help me to see myself as more than just broken.

Please help me to see myself as you see me.

Amen.

Go

From the corners of my deepest shame
The empty places where I’ve worn your name
Show me the love I say I believe

Oh, help me to lay it down
Oh, Lord I lay it down

Lauren Daigle in “Once and for All” (2015)