Gratitude is the Best Attitude

    Isn’t it crazy that each week we can go from grocery store to grocery store trying to find good food at good prices, lug the bags into the house, put everything away, and then one of our children will wander into the room and say, “I’m hungry.” So we send them to the kitchen and while there, they stare blankly into the fridge, proceed to open every cupboard, and miserably declare to us, “There’s nothing to eat!” As a parent, it is beyond frustrating!

    When it comes to gratitude, or lack thereof, how often have we collapsed into a puddle of misery and declared, “There’s nothing to eat!” The big problem, in this case, is that the “parent” who is providing for us is God - who “daily loads us with benefits” (Psalm 68:19) - and we, when we are blind to those benefits, are saying, “What is there to be thankful for?”

    Can you see now why it is so vital to learn and practice gratitude?

    In order to learn how to FEEL grateful, we need make ourselves aware of what God has done for us, through study and quiet contemplation. Throughout the Bible, especially in the Psalms, mentions of thanksgiving are followed by a recollection of what God has done for His people as well as directly for the person writing (ex: Psalm 72, notice vv10-15). This teaches us that to feel grateful and learn gratitude we need to take inventory of our blessings!

    Beginning today, determine to train yourself to take inventory of your many blessings, acknowledging the difference each has made in your life.

    Spend time today by making a physical list of your “inventory”. Purpose to add to that list each morning (or evening) for the next 6 days.

    Each day re-read your list, meditate on your inventory.

• Do you remember praying for/about the things now in your inventory?
• What if you woke up tomorrow without any one of these blessings? How would you feel?

    Let your appreciation for God and His provision grow as your consider each.

    When you are at work, driving, or doing the dishes, try to recall your inventory and thank God for each blessing.

    I have a feeling that over the next few days your prayers will become easier and possibly longer, as your heart spills over with praise and thanksgiving to God for all the good that He has done and continues to do in your life!!

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8 NKJV)

    Please feel free to post a comment, listing some of your blessings; it may help others to recall blessings in their own lives!

    Gratitude is the BEST attitude and it is worth using the time we are blessed with to think on and be thankful for all these things!! 

You can do it! So can I!!