After last week’s brief stall, I am pleased to report that I shed 4 pounds this week, bringing my total to 107 (27 before surgery, 80 since surgery February 1).

Following my resolve to memorize Psalms based on my current “favorite number,” this week my focus will be Psalm 107. As I read through this and surrounding psalms, I began to wonder if this was the best decision. Quite honestly, I wish I had lost 5 pounds this week because Psalm 108 has only 13 verses. Psalm 107, however, has 43! Eek! I know that I cannot realistically memorize all those verses in the next several days, especially since I have Annual Conference this week. (For my non-United Methodist friends, Annual Conference is a time when clergy and lay leadership from local congregations in our region gather for several days of worship, celebrations of ministry, and to tend to the business of the church). So I am going to memorize the first stanza of Psalm 107 – nine verses. That’s certainly manageable.

I continue to give thanks to God for renewed health and energy, and for God’s grace, mercy and steadfast love in all things.

Until next time, peace …

Psalm 107: 1 – 9

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
³ and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes,
    finding no way to an inhabited town;
⁵ hungry and thirsty,
    their soul fainted within them.
⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress;
⁷ he led them by a straight way,
    until they reached an inhabited town.
⁸ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wonderful works to humankind.
⁹ For he satisfies the thirsty,
    and the hungry he fills with good things.