“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”
– Psalm 9:1
One of the best ways to start your day and orient it upward toward God rather than downward into the stresses, anxieties, and frustrations of the world is to do what David says here. Make time each morning to give thanks and remember God’s work.
Give thanks, real thanks, to God for all He’s done in your life. You can give thanks for the creation and order of the universe. You can give thanks for your salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ. You can give thanks for family, friends, employment, home, freedom, literacy, or health – anything and everything that blesses you, because God is the source of all good things. You can give thanks for God’s faithful presence and sustaining strength when you literally have nothing else to be thankful for. Give thanks. With your whole heart.
Then remind yourself of some of God’s great and miraculous works. These could be the times He’s intervened to change your life suddenly and miraculously. Or these could be the great stories of the Bible when God has acted in history: Creation, the Exodus, King David, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the birth and growth of the church in Acts, and so much more. There are so many wonderful stories to bring to mind and in the process be encouraged by God’s faithfulness and absolute power over this world.
This doesn’t have to take more than a few minutes (though the longer the better). You can do this in your favorite prayer chair at home or even do it while stuck in traffic on the way to work. But make this a habit and align your day to the heart and activity of God.