On Making a List
Thank God! Tell everyone you meet what God has done! Sing songs, belt out hymns, translate God’s wonders into music! Honor God’s holy name with Hallelujahs. Keep your eyes open for God, watch for God’s works; be alert for signs of God’s presence. Remember the world of wonders God has made and God’s miracles. – Psalm 105:1-5 (MSG, adapted, abridged)
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke promoted praise as the proper response to all manner of things, the antidote to life’s pain and suffering, the recipe for both endurance and triumph. A psalmist’s rendering of Rilke might sound something like this:
Oh, tell us, people of God, what do you do? We praise. But the cruel, deadly ways of the world—how do you bear them? We praise. But the evils, suffering and injustice—how do you confront them? We praise. Your struggles and doubts, anger and loss—how do you handle them? We praise.
To this great spiritual practice, the psalmists and prophets add a corollary: remembrance. Our praise is informed and inspired by the memory of the great things God has done for us.
Which brings me to The List: a partial accounting of just some of the amazing trials God’s grace has brought you through, the blessings you never could have imagined, the outcomes you could have neither planned nor predicted, the ways made out of no way.
You do have such a list, don’t you?
When times are hard, turn to your list. When God seems absent, consult your list. When life feels overwhelming and the future foreboding, dig out your list. When prayer feels impossible, recite your list. And then wait and watch as the praise bubbles up.
Prayer
When I consider the wonders on my list, O God, how can I help but praise you?
About the AuthorVicki Kemper is the Pastor of First Congregational, UCC, of Amherst, Massachusetts.