Five Reasons to Practice Gratitude
Are you feeling grateful?
Your response to a question like this is revealing, it is for all of us. You may want to be grateful but don’t always feel grateful. What’s the best and healthiest way to deal with that?
- The source of gratitude is humility.
Jesus modeled humility for us, coupled with His sacrifice, it’s part of the foundation of grace. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus; Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8
Humility makes room in your soul for a spirit of gratitude. Humility prepares your heart to be naturally thankful. When each of us understand that we are a small part of a big world, (we are an important part and we matter, but we’re not the only one); we are poised to be a much more grateful person.
An ungrateful soul is an empty soul because it always wants more.
- The wisdom of gratitude is perspective.
There is always someone who has more than you. Their life seems more exciting and better than yours, their kids seem smarter than yours, and their house is bigger than yours. Comparing what you have to what others have may be natural, but it’s never helpful, and it often turns into unhealthy competition which can erode the spiritual health of your soul.
I’ve learned in my own journey as a Christian and a church leader that if envy has slowly crept its way into my life, my gratitude begins to fade, and I lose proper perspective. In these moments I don’t see life or leadership accurately.
A grateful spirit always brings a better perspective to our lives. It helps us focus on all we do have and helps us see the blessings in our lives – which is a much better way to live.
- The blessing of gratitude is peace.
When we are genuinely grateful, we experience a sense of contentment which leads to greater peace. A natural tension exists in our desire for contentment because we have an inner drive to achieve more.
And that’s generally a good thing. We should not become satisfied with the status quo and settle for less than our best, but if that inner drive gets out of balance with grateful contentment, we lose our inner peace.
And God’s peace is one of His greatest blessings!
At the end of each day that you worked so diligently to make progress, can you take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy the peace of God’s presence?
Finding that balance is an essential practice in the rhythm of gratitude in your life.
- The example of gratitude is joy.
Grateful people are more joyful people, and leading with a joyful spirit always produces greater results. All people set an example, but not all people set a good example.
The good news about a joyful attitude is that it’s a choice not a skill and it’s always enhanced by gratitude. If each day you find what you are grateful for, you’ll find a source of joy, and you’ll naturally set this example for others.
- The gift of gratitude is generosity.
When gratitude is in your soul, you make room for generosity. It’s a natural response. When you possess a soul level generosity, it enables you to want more for people than you want from them, and that’s one of the greatest gifts you can give.
The beautiful thing about this is that it creates a ripple effect. Your gratitude leads to your generosity and that generosity triggers both gratitude and generosity in others.
This generosity isn’t mere financial, in fact, it’s often more about things like time, kindness, ideas, empowerment, and trust, etc.
It’s a continuing gift to the body of Christ because generosity become a way of living rather than a certain activity that you practice on specific occasions.