a heart of gratitude
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was full of love and joy! I always forget how much I love Thanksgiving until it’s Thanksgiving and I’m instantly reminded how blessed I am. Thanksgiving highlights those around us whom we love the most. It causes us to take a moment and evaluate the people, things, and opportunities in our lives that we are most thankful for. It’s a celebration of the greatness of God. Thanksgiving reminds me of what it looks like to have a heart of gratitude.
A heart of gratitude shouldn’t be a side effect of the holiday season, lasting only from Thanksgiving to Christmas. We should have a heart posture of gratitude 365 days a year. There is always something or someone to be thankful for. If you’re breathing, you’ve got a reason to praise. In Psalms 23, David writes, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Even in the midst of a fiery storm, you will experience the goodness of God.
You may not see the goodness of God in a fiery storm, but that’s not because it isn’t there, it is. In order to see the goodness of God in your life, you have to have a heart posture of gratitude. Of course, if you are focused on the storm in your life, that’s all you are going to see. But if you take a step back and praise God for his goodness despite the storm, the goodness of God will be impossible to ignore.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
In every circumstance, we should be giving thanks. Give thanks in the good. Give thanks in the bad. Give thanks in the mundane. Give thanks in the frustration. Give thanks in the sad. Give thanks in every moment you get because it’s by God’s goodness that you are here.
A heart of gratitude will change your life. It shifts your perspective and your focus to the greatness of our merciful and glorious God. To the good that he is doing. To his plan in your life and the purpose of the pain. Having a heart of gratitude is a choice you make. But it’s a choice that will radically change your life.
Here are some more verses to dwell on.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:16-17
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:13-14
