By Christin Ditchfield Lazo
Reading from Psalm 145
1 I will exalt you, O God my King,
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
there is no end to his greatness.
4 One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
5 I will ponder the glorious splendor of your majesty
and all your marvelous works.
6 They shall speak of the might of your wondrous acts,
and I will tell of your greatness.
7 They shall publish the remembrance of your great goodness;
they shall sing of your righteous deeds.
8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 The LORD is loving to everyone
and his compassion is over all his works.
10 All your works praise you, O LORD,
and your faithful servants bless you.
11 They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power;
12 That the peoples may know of your power
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
14 The LORD is faithful in all his words
and merciful in all his deeds.
15 The LORD upholds all those who fall;
he lifts up those who are bowed down.
16 The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD,
and you give them their food in due season.
17 You open wide your hand
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.
18 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and loving in all his works.
19 The LORD is near to those who call upon him,
to all who call upon him faithfully.
20 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and helps them.
21 The LORD preserves all those who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.
22 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD;
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.
Meditation
Early in my life, I had the blessing of spending hours and hours with my grandmother — my Nana. We lived in the same house, and later in the same neighborhood, and many times over scones and tea, she would tell me stories — stories of what it was like to grow up in England, training for the Olympic swimming team (only to have the games canceled because of the war), how she learned to drive an ambulance and fell in love with her handsome Royal Air Force Pilot.
As I grew older, she shared with me how — years later — she struggled to make a new life in a new country, juggle the responsibility of being a wife and mother to four teenagers during the 60s. And she shared how God met her in a lonely place, how he filled her desperate hunger for unconditional love, gave her a sense of meaning and purpose. She shared how, one by one, her teenagers, and then her husband and her parents, encountered this life-changing love — how God transformed our family.
In today’s psalm we read, “One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts…” And that’s exactly what my Nana did.
My own young faith was so deeply impacted by her real-life stories of God’s faithfulness, her personal experiences of answered prayer, protection, and provision through the years. Following her example, I try to be very intentional about passing on her stories, as well as my own, to the generation that has come after me.
Tell the story. It’s a simple thing we all can do, to give thanks to God, to give him glory, and to inspire and affirm others on their own spiritual journeys.
♱
Christin Ditchfield Lazo, Th.M., is a best-selling author, conference speaker, and syndicated radio host, passionate about calling believers to a deeper life of faith.
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