Hannah, Let's Praise Jesus? "no"

Hannah has a cd of Christan songs that was given to her for her birthday. The beginning of one song talks about what "praising Jesus" means. It's a simple explanation and makes it easy for kids to understand. Afterward it says, "Hannah, let's praise Jesus for making you and me. Will you praise Jesus with me?" Hannah's response... "NO" and she proceeded to cover her ears. YIKES!

At first I was disgusted with her reaction... how could she say that? Then I realized all too well that her heart and mine were so similar. Although I don't blatenly say "no" and cover my ears at the request... there are many times in which I do the same thing inside. I know that I should be praising. I know that I should be worshipping. Yet, my heart is far from there. I go through the motions of worship and praise yet I am far from where my heart should be. My heart is full of duty and not delight. Like my daughter my sin is clearly defined the only difference is she doesn't understand "duty" she simply is not in a place to "delight" due to her sin.

My prayer today for both her and I, and all Christians is the God truly would bring us back to worship. That we would never say "no" to a request to praise Jesus. That as believers we would go through the motions, if that is what it takes, until God would change our hearts and lead us to the place that we need to be. That those motions would eventually show us our sinful nature and drive us to our knees in repentance. That our duty would remind us what it means to delight. That our children would continue to grow in understanding of God and his desires for our lives and continue to show us through their lives his desires for ours.