Thoughts for the Day

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy....

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;
they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright;
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

After the soul searching of Ash Wednesday, and the sadness over our faults and mistakes as well as our deliberate sin, we wake to a new day. Spiritually fresh and clean we should be able to turn to the Lord in humble thankfulness at the start of six weeks of Lent, that helps us to prepare for Easter.

Why do we thank God?

• We should thank God because He deserves it, as the Creator of our world;
• We should thank God because He reached out to us through His Son Jesus;
• We should thank God because we were made to connect with Him;
• We should thank God because it stops us from sliding back into the selfishness of sin.

How do we thank God?

• Through prayer - simply talking to God each day.
• Through songs - singing our praise to God, in heart or aloud.
• Through worship - with others, either online or in church.
• Through giving - our self, our time, or our money to others.
• Through trusting God - to guide our life in the future.

Remembering the above, and carrying out some Lenten promises, will help us to have a Holy Lent this year.

Prayer by Alfred the Great, 9th century CE (modernised)

Lord God Almighty,
shaper and ruler of all creatures,
we pray for your great mercy,
that you guide us towards you,
for we cannot find our way.

And guide us to your will,
to the needs of our soul,
for we cannot do it ourselves.
And make our mind steadfast in your will
and aware of our soul’s need.

Strengthen us against the temptations of the devil,
and remove from us all lust and every unrighteousness,
and shield us against our foes, seen and unseen.

Teach us to do your will,
that we may inwardly love you
before all things with a pure mind.
For you are our maker and our redeemer,
our help, our comfort, our trust, our hope;
praise and glory be to you now and forever.
Amen.