Living Grateful

It’s Thanksgiving in my corner of the world and most of America is eating more than it can stand today! Many will gather around tables and have conversations about blessings and the bounty from which we so richly live. So today, thanks is given, meals are eaten, and traditions are passed on to new generations; but then what?

How will our hearts give and receive thanks tomorrow? How will we interact with the strangers at the department store or greet our neighbors at the post office? What will we say to our children when they grumble about dinner or bedtime? Will we hug and love the spouse that we share a bed with even when things don’t unfold perfectly in a day? How will we converse with ourselves about our clothes, our appearance, our homes, our spouses, our kids?

Gratitude is acknowledging that EVERY gift is us being perfectly loved by a perfect Father.

If we wake up on Friday and peruse social media with a heart of comparison, then gratitude was simply a mask we put on for the sake of a holiday; rather than becoming gratitude for the sake of the Kingdom of God. 

Gratitude is often about setting our eyes on the unseen and refocusing our view because “the pressure of constant wanting dissipates all gratitude.” (Buchanan) It is impossible to live grateful with a heart tainted by endless want.

We can, however, begin to pause and embody gratitude by intentionally counting our blessings and identifying the grace of our lives that God is so generously pouring out.

Will you spot His graces towards you today?

Maybe it’s the laughter of a child that will catch your ear or a call from a friend that will lift your spirit. Maybe it’s a warm meal or a pillow for your head or true love holding your hand or your favorite song at just the right time…these are all gifts from God that are deserving of our thanks. Gifts that show us a Father who sees us, who knows us, and who loves us completely; so how could we not emit thanks in all that we say and do? 

Thankfulness, after all, is a posture of the heart that is easily detected in the actions of our lives and on the faces that so truthfully reflect our souls.

Giving thanks should not just be something ritualistic that we do at meal times or out of obligation during the holidays…it SHOULD be the way we live out our days. A heart postured towards God is one full of gratitude because it has received the gift of eternal righteousness flowing from the cross of Christ.

The act of thanksgiving always precedes the miracles of God. Scripture shows us that Jesus gave thanks and then broke 5 loaves of bread to feed 5,000 people. And now we have given thanks and wait with anticipation for Advent…the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the promise of His glorious return.

We get to wait with hope, joy, and glad hearts, full of thanks and ready to celebrate the birth and return of our King. Are you in need of a miracle in your life? You might start by giving thanks to God and be brave enough to wait and see what He will do.

But what about you…my uncertain friend? The one who is skeptical about things unseen, especially the existence of a cross and the promise of a Messiah, Jesus Christ himself, who has redeemed our broken world by His loving sacrifice to be born just to die and be raised to life.

What about you, my tired and weary friend? Can you find gratitude in your life today knowing that “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17)? Is there a place in your heart that understands you have received more than you deserved or been blessed beyond what you earned or been loved greater than you expected?

If so, I would say that there is a burning ember of hope in your heart to find the King of all Kings who gives beyond our imagination when we surrender and call Him “Lord.” 

And even the smallest ember of hope can birth a beautiful heart ready to start living grateful and anticipate the more that is Christ himself.

 © Dani Hardy (November 22, 2018)

References:

Holy Bible (NIV) “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Things Unseen: Living with Eternity in Your Heart (Mark Buchanan, 2002)