Thanking the Little Things

How often do you thank God?  Do you thank Him for the big things in your life or do you thank Him for all the little things?  How thankful is your heart?  It's really easy to thank God when something big happens; you get the job you wanted, are brought together with the love of your life, find a church that you really like, get a new car.  It's right that we should be thankful for these things, they show us and others how great God's love is!  But what about on those ho-hum days where its business as usual and nothing exciting happens.  Or worse, on those days where it's hard to find something that will go your way and you find yourself very annoyed or upset.  We may not think to thank God on days like that because those are the days when we don't really appreciate what we have.  Sure, we can say that we appreciate it, but our attitude and our thoughts will give us away.  You're thankful that you have a job in an economy like this, but you don't enjoy going and look forward to punching out and heading home.  That's not a sign of a truly thankful heart.  And I, like you, can be guilty of this myself.

Why is it important to be thankful on those days when we don't truly appreciate what we have?  God blesses us everyday, even on the days that we don't feel like He's blessing us.  He wants to know that we appreciate Him and appreciate the work that He's doing within us.  Also, the best way to have a truly joyful heart is to love with all your heart and to be thankful for everything that God is doing in your life.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (NIV)."  It is God's will for us to be thankful in all circumstances.  Psalm 107:1 even says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (NIV)."  These are just two verses out of many that talk of thanking God, having a thankful heart, and thanking Him in ALL circumstances.  And notice how in these verses it doesn't say, "Give thanks when God does something really awesome", or "Give thanks when you feel really happy and things are good".  It says to give thanks all the time for everything.  Right now my grandma is battling ALS, a horrible, gradually debilitating battle that we know she will eventually lose in a few years barring Godly intervention.  It would be really easy for me to get angry at God and say that He's not a good God because He's doing this to someone who doesn't deserve it.  I could feel like there's nothing to be thankful for.  But that's not how I feel, not at all.  I'm thankful that I've had 25+ years with my grandma when some people don't even get to meet theirs.  I'm thankful that she's lived a very full life, full of love from family, friends, and a loyal husband of 50+ years.  I'm thankful that she still has full use of all of her limbs and can go out golfing for at least one more season.  I'm thankful that I'll get to have her at my wedding, or that she'll at least be able to see me try on wedding dresses.  And I'm thankful that she and my mom have time to heal past wounds and build a stronger relationship than they've ever had.  And it's because of this point of view and this thankfulness that I'm actually filled with joy.  When she passes away I know that she'll have few regrets, as will I.

So how do we practice thankfulness in everyday life?  First, we need to be in prayer and communication with God.  And we don't have to wait till the end of the day to thank Him for something.  If something good happens to me I'll thank Him right then and there privately.  I also keep a blessings journal to remind me to think about my blessings from the one who loves me the most.  Somedays I can only get three things: I'm still alive, I have Jesus, I worked.  Somedays it's a lot more.  Everyone can find at least one blessing from their day, it just takes thinking about it and sometimes considering a different point of view.  We can also thank the people in our lives for things on a daily basis.  Whenever someone, friend/family/fiancee/stranger, does something nice for me or helps me I thank them genuinely.  Sometimes I'll even write letters to let people know how much I appreciate them.  

What will you thank God for today?  How's your perspective on your daily blessings?  God has blessed us all, we just need to recognize our blessings!