Give Thanks With Joy

One way to praise God is to serve Him in joy. Grateful people are joyful and we have so much to be grateful for each day. Yesterday I said that Psalm 100 helped me to express what I was feeling in retreat. It still seems to be a great Psalm for me to pray with, but I read it in Spanish today and liked it even more. I am copying most of it here in English:
A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands;
worship the Lord with cries of gladness;
come before him with joyful song.

Know that the Lord is God,
our maker to whom we belong,
whose people we are,
God's well-tended flock ...

Give thanks to God,
bless his name;
Good indeed is the Lord,
whose love endures forever ...

I thought of all the lands that I have lived in, stayed in for more than a month and counted those visited several times: Mexico, Italy, Chile, Peru, Spain, France, England; I have been to other countries like Israel, Scotland, Canada, and Argentina, but have not lived there. I found joyful memories in all of them and hope that I was helping them to "sing joyfully to the Lord"; the Spanish has the whole earth proclaiming the Lord and then says "serve the Lord with joy" and I think that is my vocation within a vocation. Today's Communion Antiphon is from John 15:16- "You have not chosen me; I have chosen you. Go and bear fruit that will last." Jesus reminds me often that he has chosen me and I am to pipe a song of joy. There is enough sorrow everywhere.