Thankfulness from the Inside Out

I just finished writing my holiday “thank you” cards a few days ago.  This is a regular January occurrence, owing a lot to my mom’s good training, and the fact that I AM very thankful for the generosity of those whose gifts I received!

Thankfulness and gratitude in everyday life…well, that is a different story.

It seems that  I am quick to notice the “not quite right” elements of my life,  complain in grumpiness about the things that go wrong, that irritate, that disappoint.
I have 20-20 vision for the imperfections and weaknesses of others, especially when it affects my life, my plan, my idea of how something should be.

Sigh.
In the Apostle Paul’s words, that is not how I learned Christ.

As a child of God, I’ve been granted spiritual blessings and earthly provision that I can rest secure in. All else is window dressing.  And I should be grateful.
And so I pray for heart-change, the only kind of transformation that is truly of God. Make me grateful, Lord, from the inside out.  Give me eyes of grace as I view others. Give me a mind bent toward eternal values and not so consumed with what will fade away.  This work is God’s.

For my part?
Well, I’ve learned some strategies to help point my nose in the right thankfulness direction:

1. A friend has given me a “Thankfulness Calendar”.  It is simply a page for each month with 30 blank lines.  My job is to jot down what I am thankful for.  So far this month I have the following: coffee, cozy fire, good night’s sleep, music,  sisters, a warm car, God’s Word, and laughter.  This list serves as a tangible telescope to point me to the gratefulness Star, and remind me my galaxy is filled with constellations of God’s blessings!

2. Communicate to a different person each month (or more often!) my gratitude for something that typically goes unnoticed. I put it in writing, or sometimes plan a short speech :).  Maybe it is the Bible class teacher that studies ardently each week,  the friend who greets me with a smile and always asks how I am,  my father who raised me to work hard/think of others/love God, the older couple in front of me at church that’ve been married for more years than I’ve been an adult!
The plan is to snoop out the undetected examples of God’s goodness  in my life ---and thank them.

3. On the days that really suck* (*this is an Aramaic word for the Greek verb in the aorist tense past participle that translated means….REALLY, REALLY BAD).  Anyway, on the days when things go wrong, I will choose to find instead the evidences of God’s grace and provision amid the difficulty.  When the  car breaks down = the mechanic that is able to get it in to work on. When the work day is frustrating and unproductive, = the truth that I HAVE a job (and it is heated!).  When my aging body acts its age = the gift of doctors, of medicine, of a husband’s backrub to help. When my child frustrates the schedule so that I am late (again!) = the precious truth that I HAVE a child (at least for now…if I don’t clobber him).   Instead of the downward spiral of “How miserable I am, let me count the ways” …I will try to consider the truth in ALL these realities that God works in the brokenness of situations to accomplish something beautiful in what He is making of me.
And that demonstration of grace is something I can be truly, and abundantly, thankful for!
Along with SO MANY other things!

And this thankfulness to Him….breeds joyfulness in me!
(Have you noticed how ugly discontent, a critical spirit, and self pity are? And how miserable they feel?!)

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:18