A Choice that Changes Your Life
There’s a very important and attractive attribute that’s quite rare in people today. It’s something we’re generally taught to be at a young age, but somehow forget and forfeit as time passes. One person who genuinely possesses this trait can positively influence and transform the atmosphere of a home, an office or a team.
The quality is gratefulness.
Gratitude is appreciation for something or someone that is both felt and expressed. It’s the result of reflection on the good things, the opportunities, the blessings provided through the love, help, commitment and sacrifice of others. It comes when we consciously look at our lives and acknowledge the contributions, gifts and care that have allowed us to be who we are, have what we have, and do what we do.
The opposite of a grateful spirit is a disgruntled, discontented, dissatisfied spirit. People who are unappreciative are never really happy. They want what they don’t have, focus on advantages and resources they lack, and grumble about the unfair life lot they believe they’ve been dealt. Even when good comes to them, they quickly discount it as “not quite good enough!”
When we nurse on ingratitude, we’re ingesting poison. Over time it makes us bitter, negative, jealous, judgmental and emotionally jaundiced. Its presence in our system slowly robs our strength and keeps us from being the best we could be. It makes us infectious and unattractive to others.
The good news is that we can change! We can go from ingratitude to gratitude, if we choose to do so. Gratefulness is a choice — a choice we’re told to consistently make if we want to live in God’s will:
"No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (TLB)
How are you doing in the gratitude department? Are you monitoring your spirit, adjusting your thinking, managing your mouth, ruthlessly rooting out discontentment from your heart?
Choosing to be grateful is one of the simplest ways to experience God’s best. Gratitude is a choice that changes your life!
Dale O'Shields
For more information, visit the Church of the Redeemer's website.
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