Good Gifts

In everything give praise: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thess 5:18

My mother-in-law is part of a body of believers that make up a small church in a small, rural town in West Florida. My wife and I, along with the rest of her family, attended this church for the first time while visiting last December. This blessed, genuine congregation is one that still openly shares their praises and prayer concerns intimately and openly. Their worship, both in song and teaching, has seemingly left a quiet, available space for the Holy Spirit to move, inform and sanctify. I have been blessed by worshiping with this church on visits to my wife's family's home.

A few month's ago, this church's pastor and I started corresponding via email about our love for music. We talked about guitars, weissenborns and our affinity for all things wood and string. Unexpectedly, he asked if he could bless me with a musical instrument. Over the years, he had acquired some and no longer had a need for this collection, but, moreover, he wanted to bless others with them as gifts. At his kind insistence, I accepted a ukulele after mentioning that I had been wanting one. My mother-in-law delivered the instrument on a visit just a couple weeks later.

I opened up the tiny case, which I couldn't help but think looked like the perfect cover-up for an old-timey mafia member's automatic weapon, and pulled out a beautiful hawaiian-made, acoustic-electric ukelele. I immediately started making up chords and songs as well as trying to improvise the obligatory, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Along with my initial excitement, I started to reflect on God's good gifts. My life is full of them. Around each corner. However, I usually fail to recognize them. Most often, I use His abundant gifts to glorify myself until they no longer hold my attention or bring me joy. Or, conversely, they become little idols, overly-worshipped with my time and attention. However, I have witnessed another option. I've watched my wife use her car as an instrument to further God's kingdom. Our small SUV has been a part of beautiful events where God simply needed four wheels for transporting or hauling, along with an obedient driver. I praise God that my wife has humbly and quietly shown me this example. Considering this, I wanted to allow my natural response to this gift to be the Holy Spirit moving me to praise. I've recorded five songs that have encouraged my faith over the years using the ukulele. I'm a guitar player faking it as a ukulele player and singer, but all for God's glory. This is to give great thanks to the Giver of good gifts as well as to my pastor friend who allowed his blessings to flow through him.

Uke Praise by mattmccutchan