A Gratitude Attitude
Each and every one of us have so much to be grateful and thankful for. It’s so easy for us to spend most of our time focusing on what we don’t have and where we want to be. After all….we are supposed to be striving for bigger, better, and greater right?! Right! God absolutely wants us to live our best lives, but He also expects for us to be thankful and grateful every step of the way.
Being grateful is not an action. It’s an attitude. Saying thank you Lord is not enough. We say thank you Lord with our mouths, and then we complain with our attitude. We focus on what we have lost, what we could have had, and what we don’t have. What good is lip service if we are ungrateful in our hearts and our minds? Being ungrateful in our hearts and minds causes us to miss our blessings. Not only does it cause us to miss our blessings, but it also causes us to lose our focus and vision. How can you stay on track when you can’t see?
Hebrews 13:5 KJV says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Philippians 4:12 NLT says, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.”
While you’ve got your eyes on what everyone else has, you’re neglecting what you do have. You’re wondering why you’re still single, and you’re complaining because God hasn’t sent you a significant other. Meanwhile, you fail to be thankful for the parents and children that God blessed you with that so many others don’t have. You may not have a husband, but you have kids. Some people would pay billions to conceive and give birth to their own child. You may be complaining about infertility, but God has blessed you with nephews and nieces who survive off of your love and care. You may be having to rob Peter to pay Paul right now, but thank God that somebody thought enough of you to lend to you in your time of need. Thank God that somebody gave you credit during your storm. No matter the circumstance, we all have so much to be thankful for.
That’s the attitude of gratitude that God loves. That’s the attitude of gratitude that will get you blessed. God has plans to prosper you, not harm you. Trust Him through the good and the bad, and in all things give thanks. I don’t care how bad it gets, there’s always people who would love to be in your shoes. As you go through the phases and changes of life, be grateful in all things, big and small. Show God that He can trust you with a little, and that He can trust you with a lot.
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
