PRACTICING WHAT I PREACH
Today’s reading: Psalm 102-104

Know what disgusts me? Lung cancer doctors who smoke, policemen who live unlawful lives, politicians who break the rules they’ve written, stock companies who tell you not to diversify--and they do, uninsured insurance agents, plumbers with constantly leaking faucets, beauticians with bad hair, mechanics with broken down vehicles, devotional writers who struggle mentally and spiritually with the very things they write about …need I go on?

What brought all that on? I’ll show you:

“Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everywhere in his kingdom. As for me--I, too, will praise the Lord.” Psalm 103:22 NLT

Practicing what I preach to you each day is a tough order. I’ll be the second to admit, my husband being the first, that I fail miserably at following through with my suggestions, urgings, rantings and sermons. The encouragement I so richly dole out is quickly forgotten, or pushed aside, when life rears its ugly head. The praise I urge you to give falls silent in my day's disbursement of words. The promises of God which I quote for you to hold tightly to have a tendency to slip through my fingers as I'm falling down a slippery slope of my own poor choices and faithlessness.

But, I try. And this verse reminded me just how important my attempts are. My determination has been bolstered and my commitment invigorated.

I’m going to praise the Lord! I’m going to praise Him more, much more!