Grateful
To God
“We will
be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, Thy holy temple.” Psalm 65:4
There are few
things that shape our lives like perspective and few perspectives that will
change us like gratitude. It will make
or break us…depending on which direction we are pointed. Not only when things are going well, but when
things are not going well.
Bad vision with multiple blessings
around us will rob a joyful life.
Mark Twain used to say, “An ungrateful
person is like a stinky wild hog under a tree, eating acorns, but never looking
up to see where they came from.”
It doesn’t come automatically, it has to be cultivated.
But when it is, watch out, because life will take on a whole new
turn.
Good vision, with multiple challenges
around us will protect us from a diseased heart.
Scholar
Matthew Henry wrote about being robbed in his diary: “Let me be thankful 1st,
because I have never been robbed before. 2nd, Though he took my purse he did
not take my life. 3rd, Though he took my all, it was not much. 4th, because it
was I who was robbed and not someone else.”
Now, that’s gratitude.
Francie
Swartz in her book, Chicken Soup for
the Soul at Work tells about a guy named Jerry who was always in a good
mood and always had something positive to say. When asked how he was doing he would always
say, "If I was any better I’d be twins." Jerry was a restaurant manager who everybody
loved to work for because he was so positive. And Francie said, "I don’t
get it Jerry, you can’t possibly be upbeat all the time, how do you do
it?" Jerry replied, "Each
morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today: you can
either choose to be in a bad mood or choose to be in a good one. And I choose
to be in good mood." "Oh its not that easy," I protested, Swartz
writes. "Yes it is," Jerry responded, "life is all about
choices." Well several years ago, Jerry’s restaurant was robbed. The
thieves panicked and shot him and he was rushed to the emergency room. He spent
eighteen hours on the operating table and several weeks in intensive care but
he survived. And later she asked him how he did it. He said, "When I was
laying on the floor I remembered I had two choices, I could choose to live or I
could choose to die. I chose to live. The paramedics were encouraging, but when
they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the looks on the faces of the
doctors and nurses I got really scared. Because in their eyes I read he’s a
dead man and I knew I needed to take action." There was a big burly nurse
shouting questions at me and she asked, ‘Are you allergic to anything?’ ‘Yes,’
I replied. And the doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.
’BULLETS,’ I answered and over their laughter I yelled ’I’m choosing to live,
operate on me as I am alive not dead.’ And Jerry lived thanks to the
skill of the doctors, to his attitude, and to the grace of God. And Francie
Swartz says, "I saw Jerry six months after the accident and asked him how
he was doing and he replied, if I was any better, I’d be twins." Much of life is determined not by
circumstances, but by personal choice. It matters how you choose to live.
Perspective
makes all the difference. We can get
bitter or better. When you look at the Apostle Paul, you
find a person who had the ability to see things differently, just like
Jerry.
In 2 Corinthians 4:8-10
he says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but
not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; stuck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our bodies.” Paul’s life was filled with difficulties in which he
could complain. Yet he learned
perspective through it all. He said, “I
see things differently.” God is at work
in my life even though I don’t understand
Today, I
challenge you to begin to make a personal choice and decide that you are going
to rejoice in the Lord no matter what and have a heart of gratitude. “We
will be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, Thy holy temple” writes David
in Psalm 65:4. Nothing
brings satisfaction like gratitude. In
good times and bad times, God is deserving of praise which brings contentment
to the heart. Tell
God you are thankful. Go ahead! I dare you!!
Terry
Risser
Reflections:
1) Name one thing today that is not going
right…for which you can give thanks.
2) Suggest one benefit to thankfulness.
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
Consider reading the Word today:
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