Nougat 4

Can you believe it’s already February 4? How time flies. Yes, we’ve completed an entire month in the new year. Around the world so much has been going on and it has been hard to figure out which and what is priority for us. As overwhelming as it gets, we might find it hard to praise and pray. Today’s Holy Nougat reminds us why we should.

“The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭115‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We Cannot Afford To Lose Our Praise

Amidst the vying concerns for my time and attention has been news of deaths all around us. Whether from sheer violence, conflict, accidents, terminal illnesses, or ‘natural causes’; people around us have been dying. I don’t know how that affects you, but I often find myself thinking about life, particularly my life and its impact. This often happens when I hear someone’s life being eulogized. Our Nougat reminded me that that’s only one aspect of it.

According to Myles Munroe and/or Les Brown, the cemetery is the wealthiest place. I would extend the premise to say it is the wealthiest, yet the most impoverished place. For as they tell it, the cemetery contains scores of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, great ideas that never left the owners lives into reality. That’s what is the dichotomy: for while it can thus be considered as wealth, at that point, they have zero potential to transform the lives of their original owners. Because there’s nothing left to be transformed once dead.

While praising God is most obvious in song, dance or spoken word (prayer), we can also live lives of praise. And that’s only feasible if we are alive. Remember Dives’ lesson when he encountered the flames of the afterlife? He wanted to warn his brothers – nope. And yes, this was a parable taught by Jesus, but the lesson is clear. LIVE a life of perpetual praise in the here and now; ie, as ones in and amongst the land of the living; for we only have one opportunity. Let’s choose to

Love God, self and neighbor (gotta love ourselves to love others as ourselves)

Invest time, talents and treasure into realizing dreams

Visualize our well-being and work at improving it always

Embrace every opportunity to praise God and help others do likewise

Ready to Live in perpetual praise? Let’s do it!

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May all we seek be found in Christ