Shout for joy!

- Reverend V. Young

May 12, 2025

key points from this story:

• Give thanks for daily blessings
• Many lack basic comforts and choices
• Gratitude should inspire love for others
• Scripture calls us to love and wisdom
• Christ’s resurrection brings hope and joy
• Praise God for His enduring faithfulness

Do you realize how many mercies and blessings we experience every day? My first miracle is I wake up. I give thanks to my God for another day. I say thank you for a lovely bed in which to have a great sleep. Then I can decide what I will have for breakfast. Too many people in our world don't have a choice for any breakfast. How lovely is a shower and clean clothes and comfortable shoes to wear. So many blessings and we've hardly started our day.

It is very blessed and merciful we live in Canada, have a home, family and friends. We can go to the church of our choice, live where we want. We don't worry about bombs destroying our town or city. Have we thanked our God for any of this lately? If we have a job, have we given thanks for it and good health and the ability and the skills to do the job? For so much mercy and the many blessings we receive daily we should be inspired to give thanks to our God and love our neighbors, no matter if they live next door, in Canada somewhere or overseas.

God left us a two-sided decree; love our neighbor as we love ourselves and love our God with all our heart, body, mind and soul. (Matthew 22:37) Our Creator formed us in His own image and in love. Psalm 14:1- The fool says in his heart there is no God. Proverbs 12:15 reminds us “the way of a fool seems right to him but a wise man listens to advice.” In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read “all scripture is God-breathed and it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The Bible also says in John 3:16 “for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” What mercy! What a blessing!

We have just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. Our God lives! Alleluia! Alleluia! Did we remember to say thank you Lord for suffering so brutal a death on the cross so we could have salvation - “the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14-6)

Spring brings forth the blooming crocus and the dandelions. The new buds on the trees burst forth in glorious beauty! What a beautiful time of year! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Psalm 100 -- “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. With gladness come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name, for the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Prayers and blessings for all!