Alicia Taylor

O God, you are my God ... because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.  My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night.
 -Psalm 63:1a, 4-6 (NRSV)
 
Our children are participating in worship this Sunday, singing "We, the Children, Lift Our Voices."  With a song, each heart rejoices, praising God forevermore, as God is the song and the joy of our lives.  Singing praises to God is one of the earliest forms of prayer, and there is nothing more beautiful than hearing the voices of young children offering praise to their Creator.
 
As children in Sunday School, we sang, "Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer."  At Vacation Bible School, we attempted to see who could sing the loudest as we belted out, "Praise ye, the Lord, hallelujah!" as we jumped up from a crouched position and threw our hands up in the air, first one side of the room and then the other.
 
We grew up singing, "Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation," and "This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long!"  There is no hymn any more rich in text than Psalm 103, "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven," concluding with resounding alleluias descending from the tune's highest note, giving voice to the praise that the rest of the hymn evokes.
 
Each Sunday, after we have presented our offerings to God, we as a congregation rise to our feet singing the doxology to the tune of Old Hundredth, "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow."  Praise is our response to the riches we enjoy - God's unfailing mercy, steadfast love, and abundant blessings.
 
When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.  Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah!  Everybody praise the Lord!  Have you hummed your way through this Reflections piece?  Praise God for the gift of music!

Prayer for Today

Omnipotent God, to thee our morning hymns ascends, and when the day thou gavest ends, Lord, thy praise shall hallow our rest.  Amen.