Life More Abundantly

At our old house we had a cross stitch of Psalm 100 hanging in the piano room.  It was the New International Version (NIV) so the first two verses read:

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.                    Psalm 100:1-2 (NIV)

Music is an important part of worship for me.  I love singing praises to God.  There were days when I would lose myself singing to God.  I would stop sometimes to think about the verse in Amazing Grace where it says:

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.
Man how cool is that!  


When we had our estate sale we sold the cross stitch tapestry and we donated our piano to Joedco Road UMC and then moved into our rental house. I can play my piano anytime I'd liked, but our church is about 25 miles away so I don't get the chance to play it very often. 


Well, needless to say, music is still an important part of worship for me, so I decided to learn how to play the guitar.  I've been working on it for about a month and it isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  Fortunately, Gilly already has an acoustic guitar and has been taking lessons, so God has blessed me with an in-house instructor.  
As I move forward on the path that God has planned for us, there has been a lot of change, but a lot of things have also stayed the same.  My hope is that by the end of next year I'll be singing praises to God on a new instrument (the guitar) and in a different language (Swahili).  In John 10:10 Jesus says that He came so that those who follow Him may have life and have it more abundantly.  Learning to play a new instrument and speaking another language sounds very abundant to me!  


I think if we got another cross stitch tapestry of Psalm 100 I would like it to be in the King James Version,

 ¹Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
 ²Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Psalm 100:1 and 2 (KJV)

I am certainly in the joyful NOISE category when practicing the guitar, BUT this is a great place to be when praising our Lord and Savior!