Happy Thanksgiving, friends!! I hope everyone has plenty to eat and is wrapped up in love and thankfulness!
Thanksgiving is such a great holiday in my opinion, because we take an entire day to stop and think about the people, experiences, and things we are grateful for (plus food!!). But how can we incorporate this gratitude into our everyday lives? Well, let's find out!
Patience
Sometimes, patience can be a SCARY word. Patience can sometimes just mean tolerating someone who talks a little too much, or sometimes it means waiting months or years to find an answer or an opportunity or healing, etc. But the practice of patience goes hand-in-hand with becoming more grateful in all situations.
Whether you realize it or not, seasons of waiting are absolutely crucial to life and faith. God will provide, He ALWAYS will, but that doesn't mean that everything will go our way. We can probably all recall times when we allowed impatience to rule, creating doubt and anxiety and stress that we would otherwise not have. Well let me tell you... your impatience is not going to speed up God's promises. And that may sound disappointing or even harsh, but God will not allow you to ruin His perfection with worldly expectations and desires. It's as simple as that. God does have a plan for you, my dear friend, but sometimes we must wait.
I know seasons of waiting are so difficult... I honestly feel like the past year in itself has been a season of waiting for me, and it's hard. And it's ok to be angry or sad or upset, but it is not ok to allow impatience affect our outlook on life. Despite it all, be grateful because we have a hope so much higher than this world. Even when Jesus hung dead on that cross, it took three days for God to reveal His plan. Three days of darkness. Three days of sorrow. Three days of fear and hopelessness and desperation and brokenness. I can't imagine how Jesus' followers, friends, and family felt during these three days, thinking that their Lord had abandoned them... but then (spoiler alert coming up...) HE ROSE FROM THE GRAVE!!! And man, if that doesn't make you excited then I don't know what will because despite the waiting and hardships, God fulfilled His promise! And He is doing the exact same thing with me and you and everybody else on this earth. So, instead of allowing doubt to creep in, let patience and peace rule, and allow these promises seep into every crack of your soul, because HE IS GOOD!
Think of it this way... you spend weeks and weeks making the most perfect and heartfelt birthday gift for your best friend. You hand-make everything, make many trips to the craft store, make everything absolutely perfect... it's so artsy that you are practically a Pinterest mom by the end of the entire process. By the time you actually finish the gift, it's two days past your bestie's birthday, but you give it to them with a big smile on your face because you worked so hard to make sure they loved it! But instead of oohing and ahhing, your friend tosses the gift to the side and chastises you for giving it to them late. Let's really think about how you would feel for a moment here. First off, if this really happens to you, PLEASE get a new friend because #toxic. Secondly, isn't this what we do with God all the time? God has a perfect plan for us, but because it doesn't go along with our time line, we want to throw it away or we stubbornly continue trying to go our own ways. But when we are patient, God will give us His beautifully made, Pinterest worthy gift and we will feel so grateful because we did not allow impatience to overshadow God's goodness.
I encourage you all to focus on patience and waiting, because it is so crucial to understanding gratitude. Without hardships and pain, I really don't think the concept of gratitude could be fathomable because these trials help us remember what we are thankful for. In your season of waiting, I pray that God will grant you patience that you may find more about Him, yourself, and the world around you. Through this patience, you will begin finding the peace in gratitude.
Humility
Secondly, humility is such an influential tool to allow gratitude to reign in your life. Humility allows us to experience all different aspects of life by putting our opinions and pride to the side to honestly understand another person or situation. I think being humble is most clearly associated with gratitude, because those with humility allow their thankfulness to overpower their pride.
Not only this, but humility allows one to surrender control and let God lead the way. When we realize that we ourselves cannot handle all the craziness in this journey called life, we gain a new appreciation for the love and help that God provides us, resulting in, say it with me, g-r-a-t-i-t-u-d-e!
But we aren't done yet! Even more, humility fuels the desire to minister and reach out to those in need. Through service and witnessing, I have felt so much gratitude for what I have been blessed with, the people that surround me, and the life that God has given me. And I won't lie to you, or even begin to try to act like I’m perfect, because I struggle with being consistently grateful, I think most of us do, but going out into the mission field has such a profound affect on my outlook on life. I have always had a deep compassion for service and witnessing and through these experiences, I have begun to learn the true meaning of gratitude.
Once while on a mission trip, my group and I were praying with a family who was living on the line of poverty, medical bills stacking up, and many other stressful things being hurled at them. But instead of crying tears of sadness or even anger, the cried tears of praise and hope because their gratitude outweighed their circumstances. This type of genuine thankfulness can destroy blockades, defeat sadness, and refuel faith.
Kindness
Sometimes in order to fully feel grateful, we must realize that goodness is outside the concept of ourselves. Now, this is kind of a loaded sentence, so let's break it down!
God created this world to be good. While our sin has sadly tarnished a once perfect world, God still provides goodness and grace to each and every one of us. So, when great things happen in our lives, give God the glory! Not only that, but use these blessings to extend goodness to those around you in the form of kindness. According to psychologist Robert Emmons, gratitude is "a relationship strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we have been supported and affirmed by other people." Because people have been kind to us, we suddenly have an urge to repay their kindness because of a newfound gratitude in our lives... and this trend all starts when we realize the blessings that God has given us!
Think about all the kind things people have done for you... are you grateful? Now, think about how your kindness can have a similar affect on others. Suddenly, with this surge of kindness, gratitude and love begin bursting through even the darkest of days.
Even more, through kindness, we have new bonds that are only strengthened when we begin to realize the importance of gratitude. Everyone in this world could use a little more kindness... this is how relationships are made! Kindness spurs not only gratitude, but also understanding, love, and joy. So, spread that kindness like wildfire! And as a result, gratitude will begin to flourish in place of our shame and trials and brokenness.
Other Ways to Promote Gratitude
- gratitude journal
List some things you are thankful for! Whether it be every day or just every once in a while, it feels good to remind yourself of all the good in your life by physically writing it down.
- mindfulness
Be aware of your feelings and environments with a judge free attitude... this allows you to truly sync up with yourself and express gratitude. Maybe even try meditation to solely focus on what you are thankful for!
- praise!!
Praise Jesus for the good AND the bad. Some amazing worship songs for these instances are “Mountain” by Brian and Katie Torwalt, “Praise Your Name” by Corey Voss, “Satisfy” by WorshipMob, and “Thank You Jesus” by Hillsong Worship
- simply say ’thank you’!
This seems obvious, but these little words are often so overlooked! Just by saying thank you to others, you can become more aware of being grateful.
- prayer
We love when people say thank you to us, so don't you think God loves it when we thank Him? Say a prayer of gratitude for all He has blessed you with! A great outline for a prayer like this is Psalm 100:
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
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