The Attitude of Gratitude Challenge!

I was just thinking to myself this past week how easy it is to complain.  It doesn't take any special talent, skill or education to do it.  It just comes natural...and all to frequently for most of us!  Next I was thinking of people I know who are NOT complainers.  The first person to come to mind was my mother.  I have never known my Mom to complain about anything to anyone.  Even though I know at times she wanted to complain (and believe me...in an earthly sense there was a lot to complain about) she kept it to herself.  What a great testimony...and one I will never forget. So on that note, I have felt really convicted to take the time to give thanks more and complain less.  In second Thessalonians we are told to "give thanks for everything."  So really it's a command not a suggestion.  Maybe we need to hear this because 1)  It's not part of human nature to give thanks and 2)  because giving thanks makes whatever we may be going through a lot easier to bear.  It is always easier to do what comes natural, but not so easy to do what is needful...like being thankful.  What do you complain about?  Not having enough money?  Your spouse?  Your friends?  Your house?  You fill in the blank for yourself...I've already done mine.  I'm a quote fanatic so here are some quotes I found on being thankful.

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer


When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~G.K. Chesterton


If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. ~Frank A. Clark


The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~Henry Ward Beecher


Gratitude is the best attitude. ~Author Unknown


If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. ~Gerald Good


Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices. ~Thomas Fuller


The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. ~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition


Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown

If your life feels like a sinking ship, then gratitude and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ is the lifeboat you've been waiting for. -Victoria Mitchel

Phillipians 4:6&7-Be Careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be mae known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

Are you going through a hard time?  Don't be anxious.  Pour your heart out to the Lord  with....Thanksgiving.  It may be what pulls you through.  We may not understand how, but it works.  Think of all the things you have to be thankful for and thank God for them.  Write them down if you need to.  Somehow it really helps to keep problems and trials in their proper perspectives.  You will find it's harder to complain when you think or all the things you have to be thankful for.  I've been doing it and want to keep doing it.  It really is like a great medicine for the spirit.  Being thankful uplifts the soul in a way our human minds can't understand.  I speak to myself when I write this...it is so damaging to the cause of Christ  when we grumble, grumble, grumble.  If Christ is in our hearts then there is no room for ingratitude. 

So THIS is my challange to you and myself.  Will you join me this week or month, whatever the case may be, and really make an all out effort to be more thankful to the Lord?  He has done so much for us.  Psalm 68:19 says,"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.  Selah.  Did you get that...he doesn't just weekly give us one or two things....he DAILY LOADETH us with benefits.  And one more verse...Psalm 40:5..."Many, O LORD my God, are they wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward:  they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:  if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.  So according to the Bible...there should be no end to our thanksgiving.  Let this be a personal thing between you and the Lord, but I would love to hear any blessings you receive from having an attitude of Gratitude.