Being Thankful – Gratitude 1

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: Psalm 100

A psalm of thanksgiving. 1 Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. (Psalm 100 NLT)

I’ve been thinking about my thinking and my feeling. I have such a good life! God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, great daughters and sons-in-law, and three grandsons I love so much! I also have a great dog (Jake the Desert Bone Dog) to share my walks in the desert most every day. But I’m going to be 81 years old in a few days and sometimes I feel sad I don’t have the strength to do all the things I used to do. And I feel kind of sad that the issues around my cancer and its treatment don’t allow me to travel internationally as we used to do. I love and appreciate all the good things I do have, but I feel sad for the things I’ve lost. Do you ever feel that way?

We all experience loss. We may lose dear loved ones, or lose abilities we’ve relied on, or lose freedoms we’ve enjoyed. We know that when we feel loss, it can make us sad, or angry, or frustrated. We may feel it’s unfair and shouldn’t be happening to us. We also know that one of the very best ways to lift ourselves out of the sadness, anger, and frustration is to focus on what we have to be thankful for. Thinking thankful thoughts can change our attitude from sadness to thankfulness!

So for the next few days, that’s what we’ll do! We’ll look at what God says to us in his Word, we’ll shift our thoughts from what we don’t have to what we do have. And we’ll invite the Spirit of Jesus to fill our minds and our hearts with gratitude!

Take a moment to become aware of your prevailing thoughts and feelings. We all experience losses and limitations. We don’t like that! We lose physical abilities and experience declining physical freedoms. We don’t like that! You can add specific losses, limitations, and frustrations to your own list! But the LORD is good! His unfailing love and his faithfulness continues to each generation!

Prayer:

Father, We open our minds and hearts to you as we prepare to move from frustration to gratitude. Help us to direct our thoughts rather than allowing them to direct us. We choose to trust you with our present and our future! In Jesus’ Name!