Over the last week as I anticipated hitting the 100-pound mark on this weight loss journey, I’ve been meditating on Psalm 100. It is a psalm I memorized as a child in Bible Club and I found myself reciting it again and again in the last several days (in the King James Version I learned, of course!).

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

² Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³ Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

This Spring I led a short-term Disciple class on the Psalms at my church, so the psalms have been a focus in recent weeks. One of my personal take-aways from the class was that I need to memorize more psalms. Over the last few days as I reflected on ways to mark my potential 100-pound loss, I decided that each week I will memorize the psalm that correlates with my current weight loss until I get to 150 pounds. Now those who are familiar with scripture may wonder what I will do if there is a weekly weigh-in that reveals my weight loss as 119 pounds! That would be quite an undertaking as there are 176 verses in that psalm! But I am committed to memorizing the psalms and I’ll take it as it comes … and maybe pray that my weekly weigh-ins go from 118 to 120!

So this coming week I am memorizing Psalm 103 (from the New Revised Standard Version instead of King James now).

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how we were made;
he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
obedient to his spoken word.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will.
²² Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

This psalm is a thanksgiving for God’s goodness and I am indeed singing praises that my weight loss total is now 103!

Until next time, peace …