A Sacrifice of Praise

You may wonder what the image of babies has to do with "a sacrifice of praise." I'm glad you asked!

When Spring led worship this morning, she talked about several things it could mean when the Bible talks about giving a sacrifice of praise. I went away thinking, "Gee, I've never sacrificed anything." She mentioned stuff like giving money and time, but those things aren't sacrifices to me, and I was kinda bummed out wondering if I had ever really made a sacrifice of praise to God.

Then I started thinking and decided that a sacrifice of praise could be when your heart is broken, yet you choose to stand and praise God anyway. When my family and I lit the Advent candle on Christmas Eve 2001, it was a sacrifice of praise to stand and say I trusted God and worshipped him when I was in deep grief over losing Madeline. It was a "Though he slays me, yet will I trust him" moment, a "He gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord" moment.

At that time, I really related to the struggle that most of the book of Job recounted. But now, praise God, I'm moving ahead to the END of the book, the part where God gave him MORE than he had lost!

I have a dream. I know it would have to be a God-thing, because there are a lot of factors involved, so I haven't got my heart set on it or anything. But here it is. It would be so cool if Joe and I could light the candle again next Christmas, each of us holding one of our new grandbabies! OK, I know it sounds like a sappy Hallmark movie ending. But still, wouldn't it be cool?