Gratitude: the practice of choosing to be thankful over entitled.
Happy Thanksgiving friends!
It’s thanksgiving week! We’re on the road again. But it’s a blessing, not a burden.
Our family moved away from family in 2015 and when we did we knew this was part of the package. Come the holidays we would be the ones hitting the road.
And that’s ok.
It’s not always been easy. Packing up three young kids in those early years with all the things they need for a week away from home and then driving for 10 plus hours isn’t easy, but it is a blessing.
It’s a blessing to have family that can’t wait for you to arrive.
It’s a blessing to have time off from work so we can travel and be with the grandparents, the cousins, the siblings and the rest that we want to see.
It’s a blessing to have a vehicle with a DVD player which, in those early days before iPads and iPhones, was huge in helping pass the time on the road.
Blessings Not Burdens
Sometimes we’re our own worst enemies when we turn our biggest blessings into our biggest complaints.
We think… if we only had this, then that….
Or, if they would only this, then that…
And before we know it, we’re so far down the rabbit hole of complaint we can’t find our way out. Pretty soon everything is someone else’s fault, everything that is good is not as good as we wish it was, and we’ve turned God’s biggest blessings into our biggest burdens.
We begin to murmur and complain like those early Israelites just wishing they could go back to Egypt!
The seeds of entitlement begin to take root.
We begin to think about what we think we deserve.
We stop taking ownership of our own decisions.
We forget all that God has done for us, in us, around us, and even through us.
We fail to count our blessings because we’re too busy counting everyone else’s blessings and wishing we had whatever they had because then… we might be happy.
But truthfully, we wouldn’t ‘t be.
Why?
Because enough is never enough when you don‘t learn to practice gratitude. When you fail to learn to be content.
Perspective
But push pause, get a little perspective, put into practice the spiritual practice of gratitude and you might just realize how blessed you really are.
Write down those blessings, big and small, remember what the Lord has done, and just see what happens inside of you.
What a blessing that we have family and friends who really do love us no matter what.
What a blessing that we have time to gather with each other and with the God of the Universe and give thanks.
What a blessing that we have a hope that extends beyond this life and that the abundant life Jesus offers has already begun for those who believe.
What a blessing.
Perhaps the psalmist knew what he was talking about when he wrote these simple yet profound words…
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! – 1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV)
Sure there were enemies coming against him.
No doubt he had adversities he had to face.
Yes, He had giants he had to overcome.
But he gave thanks.
So what are you thankful for?
Not, what are you entitled to?
But… what are you thankful for?
Go ahead. Take time today to write down two or three things and give thanks. Do it again tomorrow, and then the next day. And just see what happens within you as you practice the spiritual practice of gratitude.
Sure, I wish I had a lot of things. But I’m not going to let what I wish I had ruin the gratitude I feel for all the good things God has already given me.
And I just wonder, what would happen if we did this?
If all of us turned from entitlement toward gratitude. What would change?
How would gratitude, how could gratitude, change us, our families, our communities, our churches, our world?
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever! – 1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV)
Time to hit the road again! What a blessing!
