Play it…
It was Christmas Day. I was so excited, but yet it was that year when things were awkward. You know, you’re too old for toys, but you don’t want to grow out of them because what will you have to do all day long then? Then all you’ll get under the tree are clothes. YUK!!! Who just wants clothes for Christmas? I know at that age I didn’t.
Well, this was that year. I woke up early with my brothers. We opened up our stockings. We had a lot of fun laughing and joking with each other. There were smiles all around the room. There were memories being shared and we started talking about what each other got in our stockings. After the stockings were all opened, the tradition in our house was that we had to make our beds, get dressed for the day, and eat breakfast together before opening our gifts.
I remember Dad and Mom going to the kitchen to start making breakfast while Grandfather, Grandmother, Ann and my brothers and I hung out in the Family Room waiting to be called up to the Dining Room for breakfast. Grandfather was reading a new book he had received in his stocking. Grandmother was trying to figure out gadget we had gotten in one of our stockings. Ann was sitting in a chair playing with her strings. Finally, it was time for breakfast. The table was laid out with quite the spread of eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. We ate, had devotions remembering the real reason for Christmas. Of course, we had to clean up the kitchen before heading back to the tree for Christmas.
We all went downstairs to the Family Room and started opening our presents. Sure, enough it was what I expected. Clothes, clothes, and more clothes. Now, there were some other gifts that year, but mainly clothes. I had grown up. It’s not that I wasn’t appreciative. It wasn’t that I didn’t get some really nice clothes. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful. It was that I grew up. Everyone was finished and we were all sitting around, and Dad said, “Wait, I think there’s one present missing. I think there’s one up in the Living Room for Rob.”
We all went up the Living Room and there was this huge mound of blankets that took up almost half of the Living Room. I started taking off the blankets and under the mound was a brand-new drum set. Many don’t know that I love to play drums and taught myself how to play. What was a good Christmas became a Great Christmas. Little did I know, nor my parents know, that the drum set that was given that year would be something that would help me through some really tough times in my life. They would help me find a way to Praise the Lord in some dark seasons of my life.
One of my favorite Psalms is 150. It isn’t very long, but it is all about praise. It talks about everything on earth praising the Lord. Praising the Lord on just about every instrument that was or is ever made. That we’re to praise Him with our dance (I can’t dance, but I can move to the music and that’s dancing. It may not look pretty, but I don’t care what people think, the Lord loves it.) The Psalm ends with one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture, “Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)”
There are times when you don’t feel like praising the Lord, but let me encourage you to do something, praise Him anyway. Praise Him for the little things and I guarantee that you’ll start praising Him for things that you never thought about. I guarantee that your down spirit will change, and you’ll jump on your drum set and play to your heart’s content. I guarantee that you’ll start moving side to side in a dance to the Lord. I guarantee that there’ll be a new song that you’ll sing to the Lord. I guarantee that the Spirit of God will fill the room, your car, or your office and you’ll be transported into the Throne Room of Grace and life will change in a moment. Just because you started giving the Lord praise in the middle of the storm.
Give a shout of praise to the Lord today!!!!
–Pastor Rob
