The Discipline of Being Thankful
It is very easy to go about our lives not even thinking of how blessed we are. It’s one thing to the next to the next. Our minds are filled, our lives are filled, our stomachs are filled, and our schedules are filled. We don’t understand what it really means to be in need. Which I think really affects our ability to be grateful and give thanks. We live in a culture filled with entitlement and survival mode and excess. But… it is the month of thankfulness, so maybe we are paying a little bit more attention to being thankful, but I am almost sure there is some room to grow. So it’s time to take a look…
What were you thankful for today, this past week, this past week? And not just what, but who are you thankful for? How does that thankfulness impact you, and what does it compel you to do? Do you say thanks? Do you return the favor? Do you pay it forward? Do you live blessed?
I received a letter in the mail (REAL MAIL, not email) a few days ago from a friend telling me how thankful she is for me. She said she is taking the month of November and writing a letter to a different person every day to tell them she is thankful for them. HOW COOL IS THAT!
Let’s not only take November to focus on being thankful. Let’s change our perspective with hope to change our lives so we are filled with gratitude. Practice the discipline of being thankful this November, and hopefully it will overflow as habit into the rest of the year. And I call it a discipline, because it may take discipline to change your mindset or perspective. But disciplines cause lasting change. So not only will November be a month of thankfulness, it will be a month to intentionally reflect on our thankfulness for the rest of the year. And your discipline to be thankful doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s. Take some time to get to know your heart, stretch yourself, and do something that will help you refocus. It can be as creative as writing a letter to a friend every day, or you can just choose one thing every day you are thankful for and write it down. It can be once a day, once a week, one big change. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, just do something! Give thanks.
Colossians 3:15-17 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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.”
So my desire for you this week as you try to look outward to find areas of thankfulness and live inwardly blessed, is that you see that the true gratitude and thanksgiving goes to our Lord. He has given us more than we can even ask for or imagine. He deserves all our praise and our worship, and our thanksgiving. So give thanks to God by giving disciplining your heart, mind, and soul, to be thankful.
