Gratitude: It All Begins With Your Attitude
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder
Gratitude. It’s a word often heard and talked about, but seldom put into practice. Even more rare is seeing someone live a life of gratitude every day despite their circumstances. Why is this? In today’s culture it’s easy to get caught up in the discontent, unhappy state that we’re so accustomed to. Everywhere we go we are told that we can’t live without a certain product, we need to look a particular way, get the latest fashion or technology, and the cycle goes on and on. The endless supply of things keep piling up and we left chasing the wind feeling more and more helpless to keep up. We have the tendency to compare ourselves with everyone else and by having what they have we’ll experience true happiness. The truth is no matter how much stuff you have they’ll always be something better, faster, or flashier out there to attain. Deep inside we all know this truth, but how do we get out of this never-ending cycle of destruction?
It all starts with your attitude. How you perceive your life on a day-to-day basis determines the course of your life. It’s easy to be content when life is good, but when life gets a little rough..look out! Our hearts become cold and we become shadows of our former selves. We complain, grumble, and act as the world is out to get us. We overlook the big things that most people would love to have: Family, friends, money, shelter, food, water, and the list goes on and on… Until we fully become aware of our blessings and look at life through the lens of gratitude we will never find true satisfaction. When you choose gratitude everything changes. The small things suddenly become richer, more beautiful, more delightful, and more meaningful. The smell of fresh baked cookies, the feel of the soft breeze during an autumn day, the taste of fresh cooked pumpkin pie, seeing the array of beautiful colors during a sunset, hearing a new song, the list is endless if we just open our eyes and choose to see it.
Even life itself is a gift. Every breath should be savored and held on to. We don’t know when we will take our last. But God doesn’t just give us life; He wants to have an intimate loving relationship with us…despite out flaws, mistakes, and past. This fact alone should take out breath away if nothing else! We as Christians have no excuse to ever complain because Christ gave it all for us—even His own life for our sake!
There’s no denying that we will experience pain, tragedy, and heartache at certain points in our life. No one has been untouched by this reality. But, we have to train ourselves constantly to always see the bigger picture of how much we have to be thankful for. God will provide for us and He is enough to get you through the toughest of situations. This is not wishful thinking— it is a promise that holds true: “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) I personally have struggled with this truth as I have tended to let my circumstances dictate my attitude. When life is good, I look at life through rose-colored glasses and I remember to thank God and others without hesitation. But when things are rough, I complain about every little thing letting everyone know how unfair my life is. Soon enough I realize what a fool I am for this attitude. Then God reminds me how truly blessed I am and that He is all I need. This is a constant battle, but by God’s grace I grow a little wiser every day. Colossians 2:7 says: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
With all of this being said, how do we put gratitude into our everyday lives? Here are just a few examples: Give thanks to God through prayer. Worship God in song. Slow down and reflect. Write down one thing you’re thankful for every day. Let someone know how much you are thankful for them through a phone call, e-mail, or in person. Admire and awe at God’s creation. Give back your blessings to others through charity. Simply make gratitude a part of your everyday life. Not just on Thanksgiving day, but every single day of your life. It all begins with your attitude!
Hey, Kyle! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet and ordinary but full of family and friends and, of course, work. I survived Black Friday without incident. Anyway, like most US American believers, thankfulness has been on my mind lately. I’m glad you write.
I do believe gratitude is key to enjoying life (the small things, as you put it) and walking in God’s power, and like you, I still struggle with the amount of talk compared to the amount of walk.
It’s true that being thankful is as simple as a seeing the glass half full. What’s more revealing, however, is the size of the glass. I think you begin to investigate the scope of our blessings in the Colossians passage, which speaks of the “overflow” of thankfulness.
I have been studying at length the prison letter of Colossians. I find it interesting that gratitude is the the spirit that begins the book. Without gratitude, Paul would have never made it out of the first chapter.
Without gratitude, he would have been Paul, the beleaguered apostle, the imprisoned apostle, the behind bars pastor who is forced to correspond with his dear believers through letters, rather than Paul, the apostle who is thankful he is able to share in the Church’s suffering (1:24), the Paul who “rejoices” (1:24) and “labor[s]” (1:29) with the sort of divine energy most believers could only dream about.
I do believe gratitude goes beyond valuing a certain object or situation and, to the core, accepting life for what it is– from God. Jesus told us not to worry about things that the Lord has already provided us. When we accept life for what it is, and stop thinking about yesterday (problems, hurts, failures) or tomorrow (fears, worries, deficiencies), we become renewed again. It’s been said “Yesterday’s history. Tomorrow’s a mystery. Today is all we have.”
When you can live like this, you stop striving to be someone else or having something more. You just become part of the cosmos again, which although is very New Age sounding, is actually key to Paul’s view of Christ in Colossians. As NT Wright puts it, “We can’t stress often enough that Paul didn’t see the human plight like so many do today, that people need to have some kind of spiritual experience and that Jesus the Messiah could supply it if they wanted. It was that King Jesus himself was the centre of the cosmos, the key to life and the universe, the image of the invisible God, the clue to genuinely human existence.”
I’m thankful for you, Kyle, and hope and pray that by grace you are living in Christ’ fullness today.
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Andy. Thank you for your feedback I greatly appreciate it. Stay tuned for more posts in the coming weeks and I pray that you coutinue to grow in God’s grace. God Bless.
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