Running Praise

I don't know about you, but my prayer life tends to be a lot of the same. Petitions? Lots of those. Contrition? Check. Thanksgiving? Even that I have down. Rarely does a prayer session begin or end without me giving thanks. But praise? I never seemed to get that one just right.

Because it was bothering me a bit, a few months ago, I started including some of the praise psalms in my morning prayers. And that helped... some. And I tried to be more aware of my need to praise God. I tried to add small acts of praise in my little prayers throughout the day. But they always seemed... forced, flat, uninspired.

Then, I started running. (This is a whole separate post). Suddenly, it mattered what songs were on the top of my Ipod list. (Note: I have a shuffle... absolutely perfect for my needs, but it doesn't allow for playlists... the only way I have to control what I listen to is the "start at the top" feature). I hooked up to the PC, began rearranging songs, looking for tempo more than content or artist. I redeemed the I-Tunes gift card the kids had given me for Mother's Day and added a few new songs.

At the very top of my list... the song that sets my pace and gets me going each morning is this:



Don't you want what he has? Don't you want to feel about God the way that he does? Wouldn't listening to this song get you moving? It sure does for me.

And so, I realized as I ran along this morning, that whether by coincidence or by Grace, the songs I have front-loaded in my ipod are all praise songs. I spend my morning run praising the Lord. And it feels so very right.

I found my pace... my running pace and my prayer pace. It just took a little of both to make praise soar high and not fall flat.

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What praise songs do you love? I am looking for recommendations with an upbeat tempo. There's still a balance on my I-Tunes card and I'm looking to spend it!