Best Things
November 29, 2017·Deborah Clark
In Psalm 136, the first part of each verse recounts something about God…
God is good. He is the God of gods. He alone does great wonders. He made the great lights. He divided the Red Sea… and it goes on.
The second part of each verse repeats:
His love endures forever. His love endures forever. His love endures forever.
It says it 26 times in this chapter. And when you read through all 26 verses, it starts to seem a bit excessive. Even redundant…
Yes, we know (and we’re glad): His love endures forever!
But it got me thinking about our dinner table at home. Our family eats dinner around the table any night we’re all home together. We try to make that happen at least 4 to 5 nights a week. At some point during our dinner, we do what we call Best Things.
We go around the table and say the best thing about our day. If you are a guest at our table, you get to participate as well. For a while, Abbi would say, “Best Things, hashtag (#) no lows”… meaning, you may have had a bad thing (or two, or three!) in your day, but we aren’t talking about those now, we are focusing on the best thing. Don’t tell us your lows. Tell us your highs. In the worst of your worst days, what is something good? And there are times when it takes a while for one or more of us to come up with something good. But by the end of the dinner, we all have. Because even if it’s small, there is something good.
Sometimes, this practice can seem redundant.
“Do I really have to say a best thing?” Yes!
“But nothing really happened today…” Yes!
Because there is something amazing about the practice of thinking about the good, and focusing on the positive instead of the negative. It’s always easier to find something to complain about, isn’t it? But the more we focus on the good, the more good we will see.
Just as in this Psalm, it is good to remember what God has done. And then to repeat it. Rehearse it over and over again. Because sometimes, I need to be reminded. And sometimes, those around me need to be reminded. And sometimes, I need to find a best thing and remember to be thankful.
Some of us have a tradition of going around our Thanksgiving table and saying what we are thankful for. But Psalm 136 reminds me that repetition can be a good thing. Because God’s enduring love deserves to be repeated! Because He has done great things in our lives! And giving thanks and declaring God’s love shouldn’t be reserved for one day a year. It should be part of our day, every day. (#besthings #nolows)
