"Shout with joy to The Lord..."

"Shout with joy to The Lord, all the earth!
Worship The Lord with gladness.
Come before Him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that The Lord is God!
He made us and we are His,
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
Go into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For The Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
And His faithfulness continues to each generation."-Psalm 100 (NLT)

Ben Patterson's God's Prayer Book:  The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms drew me in this morning and it appears that Psalm 100 is calling.  (And thanks again, George, for this great book.)
Ben reminded me that gratitude and joy are choices.  "Gratitude and joy are organs of perception; we don't see in order to give thanks and rejoice, we give thanks and rejoice in order to see."-Ben Patterson.
I'm not sure I agree 100% with the first part of Ben's statement but I heartily agree that choosing to give thanks and to rejoice have changed my perception on many occasions when those two choices have not come naturally.
"Shout with joy to The Lord...."-Psalm 100:1 (NLT).  Ben encourages me to "Just Do It!"  And Eugene Peterson's paraphrase states, "Enter (His gates) with the password 'Thank You!' "-Eugene Peterson (The Message).
This beautiful psalm goes on to show me for the hundredth time that I have so much for which to be thankful and so many reasons to rejoice!
No sermon to follow...only the invitation to whoever may be reading this to join me in meeting whatever the day may bring with the choice to rejoice and be thankful.
"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!"-Mr. Rogers, bless his beautiful soul.

On the health front:
Regardless of what my day brings, I feel great this early morning.  I'm one day into my two day "radiation vacation" and so far I'm tolerating the reduced dosage of the POUS (Pills Of Unusual Size) well.  And I received a gift of sorts yesterday when my Radiation Therapist announced that I had just completed twelve of my thirty treatments.  I corrected her, pointing out that I was scheduled for thirty-two zaps and she said, "Nope...it says thirty on my schedule!"  Two less radiation treatments = two less POUS.  Life is good!