Practicing Spiritual Practices: Gratitude

This past week I practiced the spiritual discipline of gratitude/thankfulness.

We live in a world where it is so easy to not be grateful and always want more. I decided this week to be mindful of those times start to be ungrateful and this is what came up…

• Why can’t I find a nice new truck like the ones I see on the road?

• Why can’t I make more money so we can pay off my boys’ student loans or even buy a house?

• Why can’t I have a better metabolism, a better memory, more knowledge, more wisdom, more influence, more discipline, etc.

To quote Adele Calhoun…

“Thankfulness is a thread that can bind together all the patchwork squares of our lives.”

Jesus was really good at doing this. When he was faced with a situation where he could have used “more” (feeding of the 5,000), he didn’t write off the 5 loaves and 2 fish as nothing. Instead, he prayed and thanked God for them, and God supplied all that he needed.

What I learned this week is that gratitude is a discipline. It is a muscle that must be used for it to stay strong.

I was reading this book this week called “Becoming Dallas Willard.” If you haven’t read anything by Dallas Willard immediately go to Amazon and order his books They are worth your time.

In the book it is recorded that his last words were “Thank you.” How simple and beautiful, yet profound. What does it look like for our lives to be a “thank you” to God?

I tried out a gratitude journal this week. I set my timer for 15 minutes and wrote down everything I could think of that I was grateful for. The first 5 minutes were easy. It sounded a lot like a little kids prayer, “Thank you for mommy and daddy, sister, and brother.” But as I kept going it forced me to go below the surface and to really think.

I started thanking God for things I don’t think about that often like: hot water, the ability to walk and talk, and having drinkable water that comes out of the tap.

It also made me thank him for things like: the lessons we learned years back as we struggled to get out of debt, the time Melanie and I got the flu at the same time when we were young and the memories we have to share from being miserable together, or for helping me recognize my own prejudices and bias’ when we were in an Arkansas Wal-Mart getting our boys their last minute supplies for college.

After that 15 minutes was up I was so so grateful. It made me look at the things that I have differently.

Now, when I go outside and get into my old, beat-up truck, I thank God. When I get into my shower that is old and kind of small, I praise God for hot water. When I start to envy people’s houses and wish we would have bought a house years ago when the market was good, I thank God for this rent house we have been in for 9 years and the memories we have made and are making in it.

As I write this post as the week comes to an end, all I can say is “Thank you!”

I feel like I need to stop saying things like “Blessings” or “Be Blessed” and say instead, “You are blessed” or “Remember God’s blessings.” We don’t need to say “God bless the USA,” but instead say “God has blessed the USA.”

We are so blessed!

Spend a few minutes this week counting your blessings.

Notice what you have been given that you do not deserve.

Take some time this week and say “Thank you” to those people you want to celebrate.

Learn to remove comparative statements from your speech and instead thank God for what you have.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-2

Remember God’s blessings,

Paul