Being Thankful – Gratitude Part 1

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’m feeling sad that I can’t go and visit my daughter Stephanie and her husband Philip and our grandson Jesse. Jesse’s 13th birthday is this week. I feel sad that Jean and I can’t have our daughter Melissa and her husband Colin and our grandsons Jude and Zane over for dinner this week as we normally do one night each week. I feel sad that Jean and I should not go to the grocery store or to Costco because at age 77 we’re both in the high risk category. It’s hard to ask Melissa to do our shopping for us. Those of you who read this devotional here in the USA are experiencing many of the same restrictions on your freedoms. If you’re reading in other parts of the world, you may be experiencing similar but different forms and degrees of restricted freedom and a similar sense of loss. We know that when we feel loss, it makes us sad, or angry, or frustrated. We 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 are facing restrictions. We don’t like that! Many of us have already experienced loss. We don’t like that! You can add 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!