Choose Gratitude
The state of being grateful; thankfulness. . .
God commands us to give thanks in 1Thessalonians 5:18 . . .
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.
I can almost hear the eye rolling, gratitude? really? especially in this trying time? Why would I choose to write a post on gratitude? Well, I don’t know if you’ve met me, but gratitude is a BIG DEAL in my household, and I am really finding it a lot easier to be grateful during this time than I would have expected. I took some time to reflect on why gratitude was so important to me and I came up with a couple of things I really wanted to share. I feel that the seeds of my gratitude were planted by my faith. However, I think it is a childlike awe of the world that has helped my gratitude bloom.
Every Sunday I sit in a pew and hear the priest say that “It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks.” Wow, what a goal our church sets for us, to be always grateful and grateful everywhere. But how amazing would that be? You can’t be both grateful and unhappy, so if we could always and everywhere give thanks, we could have unending happiness. So, every week I’m being reminded how to cultivate my “attitude of gratitude,” I just need to heed the reminder.
I think that it is simply human nature to not appreciate what we have until it is gone. How many songs have been written about that? I have a Joni Mitchell song running through my head right now (more accurately I have the Counting Crows cover of a Joni Mitchell song running through my head right now). I have always appreciated the world and generally feel like I am in awe of creation, but I know I could show gratitude in my everyday life more. I wonder if we are walking around the world that was created for us with the wonderment and gratitude that we are supposed to have? What about the simple things in life, the things we did nothing to deserve? If you are reading these words, you have eyes that work, you can see and have the mental capacity to comprehend these words. . . THAT IS AMAZING! Seriously, sit with that a minute. How much do we take those two things for granted? How different would our lives be without them? Have we thanked God for those things today? yesterday? any day?
My challenge for all of you is to CHOOSE GRATITUDE daily. If we can change our attitude, we can all fall in love with the life we already have rather than wanting something more. I think it’s a goal worth setting . . . always and everywhere CHOOSE GRATITUDE.