CHRISTINE GORDON | CONTRIBUTOR I didn’t have much praise in my heart that spring morning, so I went outside to hear the praise of the birds. I was met by their song even before I got out the door. Tweets and trills, melodies and chatters, their chorus was accompanied by swoops across my back yard. I’d walked out into a world where praise was the dialect, and the hymns of the birds exposed my thankless heart. Their energetic tribute to their maker eventually led me to express my own words of praise to God. But my praise was slow in coming. From Lament to Adoration It had been a difficult few days full of pain for my family, and I’d prayed through the steps of lament several times in the previous hours, bringing my anger and questions before the Lord over and over. Each time the darkness would settle again in the back of my mind and attempt to take up permanent residence, I would name my specific frustrations and the details of damage happening in my family. I would end my silent prayers while cutting up vegetables or wiping down the countertops with a weak and forced prayer of trust, trying to remember God’s goodness.  But I didn’t want to stay there. I’d been honest with God about my sadness for days and longed for more hope. And so as I listened to the joy of the birds’ chirps and calls, I settled into my plastic Adirondack chair and let the entire spring morning enfold me. Squirrels jumped from one branch to another in the treetops. A rabbit dashed from one end of my yard to the other. The huge oak tree in the corner raised its arms to the sky and the little flowering tree I’d planted three years prior showed the beginnings of leaf buds. Slowly my heavy heart began to match the lightness of the mood in my back yard. I started to see not just the movement of the birds but the color on their wings. I felt the humid breeze on my face and remembered how I love the smell of rain. The old oak tree pointed my gaze up toward heaven as I traced its branches with my eyes. My soul began to enjoy what I saw, felt, and heard, and finally to enjoy the maker Himself.  Why Prayers of Adoration Why do we need to pray prayers of adoration? In my unceasing love for efficiency, I’ve asked this question many times. Doesn’t God already know who He is and what He’s like? Why do I need to remind Him repeatedly of His own character? Maybe you’ve quietly asked questions like these at some point in your life with God. When your to-do list includes more items than your day allows, it can feel like spending whatever minutes you have petitioning God for needed help makes the most sense, not naming His many attributes. ...