For some reason I felt led this morning to read through the little book of Habakkuk.
The book begins with a sorrowing prophet but ends with him celebrating the greatness of God and expressing his undying faith in the Lord. "Those who are righteous will live because they put their trust in God" (Hab. 2:4). But the verse that stuck out to me was 3:3: "And the earth is filled with his praise." Everyone who farms knows this to be true. Whether you grow hay like we do. Or corn like our neighbor.
Or vineyards like our other neighbor.
Everything we see is calculated to call forth universal praise to our God. When I finished my study, I bowed my head and asked God to burn these words into my heart and to make my life a model of that kind of praise, so that whatever I have to endure in life, it's all about him and never about me, and so that I can rise above it and trust him through it. The Vulgate reads: "Laudis eius plena est terra." Louis Segond has: "Sa gloire remplit la terre." Hoffnung für Alle says: "Sein Ruhm erfüllt die ganze Erde." And the Reina Valera exclaims: "La tierra está llena de su alabanza." I really like that.
Go outside today. Observe the creation with praise to the God who made it!