Living Grateful
Five things that gratitude does.
Isnt it ironic that the one day per year that we have set aside to be thankful for the things we have; is immediately followed by the most crazy and insane clamor for more stuff? Now I have to admit, that I do my fair share of Black Friday shopping. after all, its one of the most frugal ways to get ready for Christmas! But if we dont watch it, we will get caught up in the mad rush of buying all kinds of wonderful things for Christmas and miss the quiet joy of appreciating what we already have during thanksgiving. I love thanksgiving. It has always had a special place in my heart. one of the things that I remember most about thanksgivings while growing up was the special devotion that my dad always had with us every year. He always told the story of how the first American settlers, the pilgrims, had come to America in search of a place that they could live out their faith in a way that wasn’t dictated in any way by the state. Many people died on the boat, and more died in the following winter. With the help of the indians they were able to survive, and have a good crop the following year. They decided to have a day of feasting and thanksgiving, to the indians for their help, but mainly to God who had given them the help that they needed to survive, and finally thrive in this new land. There was always something about that story that made me realize how blessed I really am. To be an American, a Christian and to have a wonderful family. The pilgrims were people who only had their life and health by the grace and mercy of God, yet they were so grateful for the few things that they did have. Gratitude is something that turns what we have into enough. Its also one of the most important ingredients to living a happy life.
So without further ado: five things that gratitude does.
Gratitude focuses on what we have rather than what we dont
The difinition of gratitude , according to mirriam websters dictionary is to be appreciative of benefits received or to be pleased by reason of comfort supplied or discomfort alleviated. In essence, gratitude focuses on what we have, rather than on what we dont. In todays world it is way to easy to become discontent and ungrateful just by looking to much at what the latest “must have” item is. There will always be something that we dont have that we might want. There will always be a new gadget or a new toy, but if we are ungrateful for what we have, we might just wake up one morning to find that we dont have it anymore. I believe it goes without saying that an ungrateful heart never has enough, and a gratful heart always does. It is because the grateful heart sees what it has and says thank you, and an ungrateful heart looks at what it doesn’t have and says give me more.
Gratitude shares
Like we talked about before, gratitude focuses on what it has, rather than what it doesnt. And, speaking mainly of material things, when we focus on what we already have, we notice how nice it is to have, whatever, and we are more likely to see the need to help others enjoy the same things we do. For instance, it doesn’t get cold very often here in south texas, but when it does it’s usually a surprise and dramatically colder than whatever the temperature had been before; your body never has time to adjust to cooler temperatures. Almost Everytime I enjoy the warmth of the heater in our house, I think of the people right across the border in mexico who dont have heat and I wonder how they manage. With this in mind we’ve made it a piont to buy blankets and do what we can to help make sure they are prepared. being grateful for what we have encourages us to share with those less fortunate.
Gatitude is responsible
When we are grateful for something we treat it differently than things we arent so grateful for. There are some things that I have that I take extra good care of, because Im especially thankful for them. There are some things that are valuable, useful, or for some other reason special. I know at least for me, when something is special to me, it gets taken better care of. I am especially responsible for my management or treatment of that thing. We often apply this idea to clothing, or nice cars, but we should also apply it to other things like relationships and opportunities. Our gratitude for Gods blessings in our lives helps us to remember to care for them well.
Gratitude preserves dignity
Now this one is interesting to me, when I was researching for this post I looked up all of the times the word thankful is used in the Bible. now there are lots of verses that talk about giving thanks but only three that say the word thankful, and of all of the places where thankfulness is mentioned in the Bible it is in Romans chapter 1, the chAprter that details the downward spiral into apostasy. Apparently In the downward spiral from knowing God into apostasy, unthankfulness is a key step along the way.
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
When we think about it in this way, this verse seems to express that had they been grateful for the gifts of God and the presence of God in their lives, they would not have fallen into the darkenss and debauchery seen in verses 24-32. Gratitude is something that helps shield us from so many wrong things that can happen when all we want is more and more. The Bible is clear that when we become ungrateful for what we already have, we become blinded to the things of God we drift away from the light that we have and closer to the darkness of sin. But that doesn’t have to be the reality in your life or mine. I choose to be grateful for all the things that God has given me, and to be thankful for Hos presence in my life.
Gratitude is vocal
When thankfullness is something that is in your heart, it doesn’t often stay hidden, its going to come out.
In psalm 100:1- We read “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 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. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”
I was going to just use the one verse about thankfulness, but the whole chapter is just awesome. I love the first line make a “joyful noise!” Be vocal about your gratitude! Come before His presence with singing…. and bless His name. All of those things are vocal. They involve letting other people know about the God you serve and the blessings you have been given. Sometimes when I start thinking about all of the blessings in my life I feel like my heart is going to explode with thankfulness. When I focus on my family and friends and on how Good God has been to me, its hard to keep it inside! That’s exactly what gratitude does, it says thank you out loud.
This thanksgiving lets take some time to truly be grateful. Not just for the material things, bit for the light of God, the blessing of family, and and for all of the wonderful things that God has placed in our lives. I want to be thankful for what we have and give God the praise for all of the bounty in our lives.