Today’s scripture: Psalm 113 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Melody Merida):
This morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I was listening to some music during my normal routine. My wife had already gone to work, and my son was away at his morning preschool. It was just me in the house — something that doesn’t happen that often. I decided to crank the music nice and loud when the Sirius radio station that I was listening to started playing “Good Life” by One Republic. I mean, I turned it up as loud as I would have listened to it when I was 20 years old. And for the few minutes that song played, I danced in our kitchen like no one was watching (hopefully they weren’t!) and I belted the words of the song as loud as I could.
“Oh, this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life”
Let me tell ya, that is a great way to start a day!
A bit later, as I was sitting in my office at work, I read today’s Psalm and was instantly taken back to that feeling I had while dancing in my kitchen. I wanted to dance right there in my office as I read the words of praise to our God. Those words gave me the same feeling of hope and happiness that I had gotten in my kitchen earlier in the day. So naturally, I decided to do the same thing that I did at home. I stood up and danced as I read the words of the Psalm: “Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time on and for evermore.” Praise be to the Lord!
Sometimes we need to just get out of our chairs and dance in the presence of a God who raises the poor from the dust, who lifts the needy from the ash heap. I mean, those are words that call for shouting, praising, and, of course, dancing!
Don’t get me wrong; I know that sometimes life is really, really hard. But today, let’s all just decide that, no matter what, we will dance in praise — either figuratively or literally. Or if we can’t do a whole day, maybe just this one minute, we can read the words of Psalm 113 and let our souls dance as we take in what it means to know that there is none like our God. Whatever comes our way for the rest of the day, let’s remember the feeling we had as we danced in the presence of the One who loves us most.
Thought for the day: Let’s dance our way into the good life, the life lived fully awake to the glory of God through praise! Dance, dance, dance!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.