Expressing Gratitude

Do you express gratitude for the people in your life, your circumstances or your body’s capabilities? Do you even think about it?

On different days, the same song about gratefulness played, it seemed, every time I got in the car. Hearing that song multiple times on consecutive days, I felt like God asked me “Are you grateful? Do you express it? Would others see you as a person living gratefully?”.

The answers: “Yes”, “Sometimes”, “Probably not”.

Grateful for people

How often do you tell your family, friends or even simple acquaintances that you value them and why you value them? That you are grateful to know them, have them in your life and why? Do you stop to think about someone you are unhappy with from a grateful-they-are-in-your-life perspective? Or do you complain about them in your thoughts, or worse, to whoever will listen?

If I thought more about how grateful I am to have these people in my life, I probably would not take them for granted. Telling them how grateful I feel about them, and why, lifts them up.

Grateful for circumstances

Do your current circumstances make you feel grateful? Sometimes we allow our circumstances to dictate gratefulness. Circumstances go well, we are grateful. Circumstances difficult? Too hard to look past them or our feelings to pursue gratitude.

From my own experience, during difficult circumstances is the best time to pursue gratitude. During my cancer journey, I had no control over anything other than to do what the doctors told me. I could not change my circumstances. Frankly, they sucked.

As I focused on what filled me with gratefulness, the grateful list grew and softened the pain of my circumstances. What I became grateful for taught me new ways to come alongside others suffering. When we pursue gratitude in spite of our circumstances, our hearts become lighter, filled with joy. All this helps counteract the negativity of everything else.

Grateful for self

Are you grateful for your body? Does your mind’s first thought about your body reflect gratefulness? Or do you look at yourself, constantly picking away at what you do not like about what you see?

To move on from how you look, maybe your body does not want to cooperate with you anymore. You cannot do the activities of your youth. Forget activities, you have trouble getting up from sitting on the floor.

My plea to you, and myself: Stop doing this! Stop comparing yourself to what was or to some unrealistic expectation of what you should be. Throw away trying to have the perfect body, non-wrinkled skin. Work on being healthy in mind, body and soul. Do not cave in to the culture that surrounds us that wants to keep us small by associating looks and youth as the end-all of life.

Express gratitude to the body and mind you have. Take care of it. Lift up yourself, thankful for the things your body allows you to experience. Embrace how God created you.

Grateful for God

I believe God created each one of us and the world around us. He designed each one of us uniquely for His purpose.

Extending gratefulness to God includes worshiping, praising and honoring Him. How do we honor Him? Spend time with Him, thank Him, enjoy His creation. We embrace Jesus’ love, loving ourselves and extending love to others.

Prayer

Lord, teach me to offer you a heart of thanksgiving and praise in all my daily experiences of life. Teach me to be joyful always, to pray continually and to give thanks in all my circumstances. Fill my heart with gratefulness that overflows to others.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18