Make A Joyful Noise to the Lord

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!
Psalm 100:1

When picking up Micah yesterday from school, he came bursting into the van with extreme zeal and excitement. He quickly opened his backpack to show me what he received in music class, a recorder. You know those plastic little clarinets we all were given in grade school. He pulls out a little music book and joyfully says, "Mom I want to play you a song that I have been practicing just for you. It's one of your favorites, OK."

He puts the recorder to his mouth, struggling to find the right placement of his fingers onto the little holes and making awful, high pitch sounds as he tries to find the proper first note. He is sincerely apologized with each loud, ear piercing sound that came out of his recorder and reassures me that that was not the right note, and to wait because he was not quite ready yet.

Finally he finds the first note and tells me to listen closely and see if I could recognize the song. He starts off rather well, and after the first 4-5 notes I realize he's playing, "Amazing Grace". My heart sinks, my ears attuned as he plays his little heart out FOR ME! He made no mistakes until he hit the high D note. Ouch my ears! You know what note I'm talking about... The 'high D' that only those who have been given the gift of song can hit(vocally), and make the note sound pleasing to the ear. For the entire 20 minute car ride home myself and Amanda were Micah's audience as he kept trying to play the entire song perfectly (and if he didn't, he would have to start the song all over again). Lets just say it was a rather long ride home yesterday.

Well we survived the car ride home, and for the rest of the day I had the song playing in my mind over, and over, and over again (minus the screeching sounds of Micah's recorder). ;0)

With this it made me think of my 1000 Gifts List I decided I would keep this year. I started my list, but it has become clear to me that I was making a general list of all the things I'm thankful for. Kind of like a 'count my blessings' type of list, and not a heart felt list of me experiencing God's grace. As the song continued to stir in my mind and began to sink deep into my heart I began to meditate on His grace. What it means to me, why I don't deserve it, but how he continues to extend it to me daily.

Soon it occurred to me that the list I started sounded more about me, and less about Him. My husband, my children, my church, my friends, etc. I am truly thankful for all of them, and do see them all as gifts from God, but I started to feel that the list needed to be something more than just what I'm thankful for. I feel that my list needed to be of the graces He gives to me in every moment of every day that I fail to see because my mind is either filled with worry, stress, obligations, commitments and all of the other daily distraction that can come my way. So last night I decided to look at my list differently. I'm keeping my original list, but I want to seek deeper and find the everyday graces in each person/experience that I have written down and how God uses them as gifts of His grace each day.