In just a few days it will be Thanksgiving!
I love Thanksgiving.
And I am increasingly loving gratitude.
Not that I didn’t love gratitude before, I’ve always loved having a grateful heart. Still lately God has been bringing me on such a journey of gratitude. I’m not saying I’m very good at it yet, it is very much a practice and I am very much in transition.
It is incredibly hard to have a heart of gratitude when you don’t have what you think you need.
Of course, when your mind is consumed by what you think you need your mind isn’t on the right thing anyway, is it?
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2
Are earthly things so bad? Is it so bad to want cars that work? A bit of cash in your account for bills and groceries? You might even get a bit righteous about it saying, “If only I had more, I could GIVE so much more.”
At least, that is the attitude I can so easily have. In fact, I think I’ve said that last line a few times just in the past few weeks.
Earthly “things” aren’t necessarily bad, but setting your mind on them is. Because setting your mind on them robs you of all you have to be grateful for.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. John 15:9
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Love. That’s a thing above isn’t it? We all know it. And we were given His love, freely, in the greatest possible way. I am so grateful that I can remain in His love. I am so grateful that I can turn around and give that love away to others, to my husband, my friends, my daughter.
The opportunity to love. Oh how grateful I am for it. Grateful for every person God has brought into my life so I can give my love to them.
I am rich, so rich, in love.
Bring joy to your servant Lord, for I put my trust in you. Psalm 86:4
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. Psalm 92:4
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, Luke 1:14
Here is another thing from above, and one I can take for granted, even though it is my very name.
He is my Joy! How can I forget this and be ungrateful? His deeds are all over my life! His touch and His plan and His design. And it does bring me such joy!
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15
Love, Joy, Peace.
Are they clichés? Or the most precious of treasures?
I sit and watch my daughter and feel the tugs at my heart strings and I know.
These are the greatest treasures: the treasures in a heart.
The treasure of loving each other, and cuddling a little one to your heart.
The treasure of the joy in her eyes and the smiles in the very skies.
The treasure of peace in my heart, even when life is hard.
God’s perspective isn’t ours either. He says that the toils in life are His gifts to us. If toil is a gift, then maybe happy isn’t what we’re supposed to be . . .
http://heavennotharvard.com/2014/11/18/3-reasons-having-children-will-not-make-you-happy/
Lifelong journey to understand who God calls us to be for sure.
Agree! I think God is more about our holiness than our happiness! However I don’t think that means we can not have joy. Of course, honestly I think joy is somewhat different than “happy.”
Love this post! It is a wonderful reminder for Thanksgiving!
Thank you!
Happy Thanksgiving from South Africa. Love this – He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, Luke 1:14.
Thank you! Amen! 🙂
Thank you for such a timely reminder! God has provided all we need, and He is sufficient!
Your Welcome! He does provide! I am having to preach this to myself a lot lately, but you know what? He always remains true, and always is there! He really is sufficient!
“When we don’t have what WE THINK we need.” That resonated with me. My parents taught us to be grateful when we had very little (we grew up very poor), so all of us now have grateful hearts, even we we don’t have what WE THINK we need. God provides what we REALLY need. 🙂
Yup! Amen!
This is such a great post! I have been working on this also and it is such a rewarding change. Tough at times though. I do really enjoy finding gratitude in even the little things.
It is tough! It’s been a real challenge for me the last few months, but I’m determined to keep going because I really see how important it is!
I was just thinking about this today, so clearly God I’d trying to tell me something 🙂
I told God that my heart is thankful and is ready to give more, but that my mind is telling me that I don’t have enough. Those verses that you posted are proof that people who have nothing can still give with a grateful heart. So I need to believe that God will fulfill his promise to provide what I need, and I can do that by reciting these verses over and over until my mind begins to change. God asks us not to conform to the things of this world, but to transform by renewing our mind on his truth. Transformation starts by speaking God’s truth and believing that He can do what He says He can do.
Thanks so much for posting this! It really gave me a lot to think about.
Isn’t it great how God does that? I’m telling you I’m preaching to myself about this these days. I need to remember that my very discontent over not “having anything to give” gets in the way of my being able to give my heart, my smile, and my attention to people.
What a great reminder for Thanksgiving. I hope your family has a great day!
Thank you! I hope the same for your family! 🙂
The best things in life really are free, aren’t they?! I know how easy it can be to get into the habit of thinking, “…if only I had this, then….” But, with this attitude, would we ever really be satisfied? Once we got what we *thought* we needed, we’d starting needing something else, and then something else after that. May we all learn to be content with the present moment.
Amen! And sometimes the times where we lack are times when God is growing faith in us that will last all our lives! After all, He provided! 🙂