I have to give props to the Worship Initiative. Every weekday, they post a worship devotional, complete with a thought for the day and either a hymn or a worship chorus. Recently, they went a bit old school with their selection. I had completely forgotten the song existed until I saw the lyrics. Then when they started singing it, it was a bit of total recall like in the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I’m posting the lyrics here, so that if you’re old like me, you can get this song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. As far as songs living inside your brain rent free, this one’s not a bad. There’s way worse than singing Scriptural truths to yourself.

Anyway, here are the words and the appropriate credit to the songwriters:

“For all that You’ve done, I will thank You
For all the You’re going to do
For all that You’ve promised
And all that You are
Is all that has carried me through
Jesus I thank You

And I thank You
Thank You Lord
And I thank You
Thank You Lord

Thank You for loving and setting me free
Thank You for giving Your life just for me
How I thank You
Jesus, I thank You
Gracefully thank You
Thank You” (Russell Fragar/ Darlene Zschech).

“Sometimes ‘living well’ is as simple as showing up with a good attitude” (Butch Maltby).

Thomas Edison once said that opportunity is missed by most people because it shows up dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work. That applies as well to success. It’s not the glamorous parts that others see that lead to success but the everyday showing up and not giving up.

The life of faith is a lot like that. You keep showing up with a good attitude. You expect God will do good things because He is a good God. You know that perseverance and patience eventually pay off.

A good attitude is the same attitude that Christ Jesus had: “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion (Philippians 2:5-8, The Message).

Not thinking too much of yourself. Setting aside status and taking the route of humility and service. Remaining obedient no matter what the cost. Those are what defined the life of Christ on His way to the cross. That’s what should define the life of a believer. That’s showing up with a good attitude.

“When things happen which dismay, we ought to look to God, remembering that He is not taken by surprise nor can His purposes be thwarted” (Elisabeth Elliot).

That’s good news. There’s never a time in my life where God will say, “Well, I was definitely not expecting that” or “I didn’t see that coming.”

God is never taken by surprise. You and I aren’t big enough to mess up God’s plans. We’re not that big and we’re not that strong. In fact, God has factored our dumb decisions into His plan. He knew how often we’d get it completely wrong.

There’s nothing bad that happens that God can’t turn to good. While the tragedy isn’t good, what will come of it is. While the pain still hurts, there’s joy down the road that’s inevitable. Even in the worst possible scenario, God is still with you and for you.

You don’t have to worry about God’s plans not coming to pass. You also don’t have to wonder if those plans for you are good. They are. Just take a quick peek at Jeremiah 29:11. His plans for you are still good. He still knows what those plans are — to give you a future and a hope that nothing in this world can take away.

If you think that you can mess up God’s plans, remember that they’re foolproof. Even when the fool in question is you or me. He’s got this.

“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community)

Here’s a convicting question that has slapped me in the face a time or two: if you woke up tomorrow only with those things and people you gave thanks for, what and who would be left? What do you have in your hand that you’ve forgotten to be thankful for? Who in your life have you taken for granted and not shown gratitude to?

This may or may not be entirely biblically accurate, but I think that God sometimes withholds the larger gifts from us until we’ve learned how to be thankful for smaller ones. Or maybe we show we’re mature enough to handle certain things by how we express gratitude rather than entitlement.

Even if one doesn’t lead to the other, it’s still good manners to say thank you. My Momma made sure I learned that one (and still reminds me from time to time). Still, I can practice being thankful when it comes to people and completely forget to thank God for long stretches of time. That’s a bit dumb. After all, He’s the one who is the source of all good things, right?

The more you say thanks, the more content you are. The more grateful you are, the less stuff you need. You can be counter cultural and say, “No thanks. I have enough. I’m good.”

Practice gratitude. Remember what my momma said. Say thank you. A lot.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full, in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace” (Helen Howarth Lemmel)

I know, I know. Trust me. It’s not a repeat. I just keep thinking of new ideas to write about based off of this classic hymn.

Have you ever noticed that if you start thinking about a certain type of car, you start seeing them everywhere? Like if you start thinking about how maybe you’d like a Tacoma, suddenly you see them all over the place?

There’s something to that. We often see what our heart desires. We sometimes miss out on a lot because we become hyper-focused on a particular goal or dream, often at the expense of other good and noteworthy things.

The old hymn has it right. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. That’s a goal that’s never unwise to seek after. That’s something that once you find, you’re never disappointed. In fact, you find that all the rest of those things that seemed so important fade back into their proper perspective.

Lord, keep our eyes turned to Jesus. Help us to see that nothing else in this world can satisfy our longings like Jesus. Everything else fades. Everything else will eventually break down, rust, and decay, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can live at peace because we know that Your eyes are always turned on us and watchful over all our ways. Amen.