It was a Monday night, sometime after the 10 o’clock news, when I sat down at the computer to journal. It begin with these words, “Father, I am overwhelmed with anger.” As I ranted for four or five sentences about the misery of my anger over nothing, it dawned on me…STOP IT! After all, I had nothing really to be upset about. The verse “Do everything without arguing or complaining” immediately came to mind.
So instead, I made a list of things to be thankful for. Forty-six things came to mind within a few minutes. They ranged from salvation and God’s new mercies, to sunrises and sunsets, to my husband and children, to a sort of clean house and good sales at the mall. The list was in no particular order. I just typed as the things came to mind. When I came to the end of the page, I stopped. I realized that it had taken no time at all for me to type the list. In less than ten minutes, I had gone from overwhelmingly angry to unfathomably grateful. The child’s prayer “Johnny Appleseed” says:
“The Lord’s been good to me and so, I thank the Lord
for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The Lord’s been good to me.”
“The Lord’s been good to me” is a simple, yet profound statement to make. Today, I challenge you to make a list of the things for which you are thankful. Do not worry about getting the items in any certain order; just write them as quickly as possible. Allow a thankful heart to begin to take root in you.
God’s word is clear. In all things, we are to give thanks. I Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Often I simply want to be thankful when God has seen me through a specific trial or issue. Yet, his word says I should be thankful no matter what I am facing. As we walk this road with Christ, we will face challenges. Some hills will be small and others will be gigantic, but still we must climb.
Our countenance is our choice. We can choose to have a smile and a thankful heart that will draw others towards us or we can choose a frown and a bitter spirit that will push people away. I hope we will chose to join with the psalmist David and say, “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:1-5
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