The Lord’s name is praised no matter how arduous the day.

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Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!
The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,
who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 113 English Standard Version

Depending on whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, we love sunrises or sunsets. And for those insomniacs among us, we love both. Photographers call the time just after sunrise and before sunset the golden hours. It’s the time when the light is the richest and the photographs the most appealing.

A beautiful sunrise sparks a hope-filled alpha to the day.
A dazzling sunset mends a hope-dashed omega of the day.

At the end of the movie, Hope Floats, when the sun has set and fireworks fill the sky, Birdee Pruitt quotes her mom. “Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. But it’s the middle the matters the most.” The beginning of the day might bring fear and the end of the day sadness, yet its the grinding out of of every minute that matters most.

The psalmist reminds us that from the beautiful sunrise to the dazzling sunset, our true work is to praise the person and work of God. Why? Because it is God who gets his hands dirty during the sweat-filled twenty-four hours of each day.

He raises the poor from the dust.
He lifts the needy from the ash heap.
He gives the barren woman a home.

Hope for each day floats up in praise to the Lord because each day his mercy falls down to his people. So enjoy the sunrise and the sunset knowing that between the two, the Lord is laboring for you.

Text and Picture  Copyright Douglas P Brauner