Day 15: Gratitude focus – A person you have met within the past year

Quality or name of God – Good

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“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; celebrate His lovely name with music.” (Psalm 135:3, NLT)

Can you keep a secret? Every year on July 1st, I play Christmas music—all day! It’s one of those odd rituals that contains no explanation other than that right about that time of the summer I have a hankerin’ for Christmas music! I let myself enjoy it that one day, and then I’m good to go until November 1st. Yes, I’m one of those. But at least I wait to put up my tree until the first available minute after Thanksgiving…usually!

I have another Christmas ritual, and I would like you to think about joining me in it this year. Each year I use the book of Luke as my “advent calendar.” Here’s how it works: Luke has 24 chapters. There are 24 days in the countdown to Christmas. So I just read the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month, and then I go back and re-read Luke 2 on Christmas Day! I have friends that have started to include their families in the daily readings. What an awesome way to get your children excited to learn about Jesus—from His birth to His resurrection—as they anticipate Christmas day!

What I have loved about doing this (and some of you have done this with me for several years now, so you’ve experienced it, too), is that in reading a chapter from the Book of Luke each day, you get to see the entire life of Christ and gain a more vivid picture of why He came to earth—the event we remember on the 25th! It has transformed how I look at Christmas and made the celebration all the more joyful!

I love that our verse for today reminds us to recall the fact that our Lord is good and to “celebrate His lovely name with music!” That’s got “Christmas carols” written all over it, don’t you agree? As we sing the familiar words this year, I trust that each of us will recall with gratitude His goodness to us not just during the holidays, but every day the whole year through!

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 15, 45, 75, 105, 135

»  – Send an email to thank your recipient for their impact on your life in the short time that you have known them.

»$ – Meet your friend for a cup of coffee or tea at a central location. If your friend lives too far away for a few moments together, mail a card or letter telling your friend how grateful you are to have met them at some point this past year.

$ – Purchase an inexpensive gift for the new friend that you selected as your gratitude recipient. Surprise them with this “I’m-glad-God-introduced-us” act of kindness next time you see them!

 » = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’” (C. S. Lewis)