BE THANKFUL

You may have heard the story about the violinist that went into the subway system in Washington. This was a famous violinist, it was Joshua Bell, a virtuoso, an amazing performer, a conductor for that matter as well. And he played for  minutes and he kind of just looked like a street musician. It was a cold January day when he went out to do this and hardly anybody even noticed him as he was playing this beautiful music. In fact, it wasn't just classic music, he was playing it on a Stradivarius in a subway. And after playing for 45 minutes, he had a little case open in front of him, he collected a whopping 32 dollars. People barely even noticed this man.

I know there's very many lessons we can learn from that story but the one that sticks out in my mind is people just didn't pay attention, they just didn't even notice, not even appreciative of this fantastic music and this amazing performer right there as they figure thousands upon thousands of people probably walked by him on that day.

This story brought to mind how we all need to pay closer attention to what's going on and more than that, appreciate the little things. It was just everybody running around on their daily business not even noticing this beauty that was right before their eyes. And I think that's a lesson that we all need to take the heart.

In fact, there's a beautiful psalm that's a good reminder of this, it's in Psalm 103. And in Psalm 103, right at the very beginning, it talks about honoring God, blessing Him and being thankful. So, the psalm starts out, "Praise the LORD, o

my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name."

Do we see God's presence all around us and the blessings that He provides? Verse two really gets to the heart of the matter. "Praise the LORD, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

David's praise focused on the good things God was doing for him. It is to complain about life, but David's list gives us plenty for which to praise God - He forgives our sins, heals our diseases, redeem us from death, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires, and gives righteousness and justice. We receive all of these without deserving any of them. No matter how difficult your life's journey, you can always count your blessings - past, present, and future.  

We've got our daily jobs, we got our tasks, we got to take care of this and run around and do that, and we've got this errand, but do we really stop to recognize the beauty and the wonder and the real blessings that are all around us? Let's remember to do just that. Now's the time to do that, be thankful. In fact, God even tells us when we're faithful in the little things, we'll be faithful in much. Well, be faithful. Be faithful and notice and be thankful for all of the amazing little things that God blesses us with.