Praise Habit

I started a new book this morning, Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi by David Crowder. From the very beginning he's got me day dreaming and returning to the ever-so-familiar place from my childhood...that place of dreams only reached through the wonderful question "what if...?".

This is how it all started:

We naturally understand praise. As kids, we talk about our favorite toys; later we praise pizza and football players. Kids just know how to enjoy things. They give themselves fully to whatever has a hold on them. Remember as children how we would fearlessly hold up our favorite toy and petition anyone who was in close proximity to behold it? "Look, Mom, look!"

We instinctively knew what it was to praise something. It's always been in us. We were created for it. It's a part of who we are. As kids, we were fabulous at it. But as adults we become self-conscious and awkward. Something gets lost. I think we do it to each other. At some point, I hold the toy up exultantly and you comment that it looks ridiculous to hold the toy up in such a way. It's not a cool toy like I believed it to be. It is worn and tired, you point out. And we slowly chip away at each other's protective coatings of innocence until one day we wake up and notice we are naked and people are point.

Sorry for the long quote (ok, not really). Hope you read the whole thing as it really does make us, or at least me, think. The guy with the crazy hair (do you know who the author is?) really has a point. I remember a life of seemingly constant praise as a kid. And what he says is spot-on: "They give themselves fully to whatever has a hold on them."

So, my "what if..." question goes something like this: What if we could return this kind of innocence and open praise in our lives and in our churches?

I will go ahead and confess that I have been many times a part of the problem...one of those with a pick in hand chipping away at people around me. I remember growing up, for example, thinking that any kind of visible expression of praise (raising hands for example) was nothing but a show and to be avoided at all costs. One time I saw someone start dancing at church and began looking for lightning (ok, a bit of a stretch but you get the point). So, I confess right here to each of you that I've been there and now I'm desiring to put the pick down and want to see these things change in my life.

What if (again) we actually did give ourselves fully to God in praise? What would that look like? If this was true, unadulterated praise wouldn't it attract people to God? Wouldn't it bind the church together in an incredible way?

Oh man...I could go on because it excites me to think about this. Honestly I think my mind is dwelling on heaven...where we will praise with everything in us...no one will point...no one will laugh...no gossiping, whispering, or whatever. There won't be any of that because we will be so consumed with what we are witnessing that we won't have time to even glance for a second at what the guy next to us is doing!!

Praise God!