Reflections on Gratitude

When God comes through for you the sense of gratitude you feel – or should feel – is immense.

Arguably the sense of gratitude should start at the moment of salvation. When you have been saved from the condemnation of this world through faith in Jesus, your thankfulness should be out of this world. If you truly understand what you have been saved from, then nothing else can come close.

Sometimes we only look for the big, audacious miracles or instances in our lives where we can point to and say to others, “Look at what God does”. However, by being a little more soft-hearted and open, you will see beautiful “smaller” miracles, joy, gifts, doors that were opened or shut that are all the work of God. This is why it is so important to keep a soft heart so we can recognize the many movements of God in our lives.

But we are soldiers of the God of Creation who loves us more than we do ourselves. Like any loving father would do more for his children other than providing half the necessary DNA for life, God also does much more for His children than give them life eternal. Therefore, if we look at our lives, we will see many things, in addition to salvation, which we can be thankful for.

They even made an old song out of this idea entitled “Count Your Blessings”. Here’s the first verse.

^{When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,} 

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, 

Count your many blessings, name them one by one, 

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Even those who go through great hardship can still count their blessings. Look at what the Pilgrims had to endure when they first landed in America and yet they were blessed by God and, within a year, were holding the first Thanksgiving.

John 10:9-10

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 

It's also important to write the good things that happen in your life down so you can recall them in both good and bad times. My wife and I have been doing this for the last 10 years. We call it our “Happy Memories” list. Every Thanksgiving we take an hour or two to go over each memory and reflect. These aren’t, necessarily, all miraculous things, but without God’s blessings we would not have been able to do them or enjoy them.

All we do is write down a phrase which reminds us of what the happy memory is. Since the list is only for us, we only have to write enough for us to remember. For example, we have “Got Oxygen” to remind us of the time we were at the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado where, having driven to the 14,000 foot summit, my wife was having a hard time walking due to the thin air. Another entry is “Dancing at the YMCA” where we first met each other while ballroom dancing many years ago. With each of these entries, we can reminisce on what happened and reflect about how gracious and wonderful God is for allowing us to have this wonderful memory.

Why do we need to do this – and do this regularly?

Isaiah 53:6a

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

Consistent reflection on gratitude towards God keeps us from straying away from our Good Shepherd. When we stray from Him, bad things happen. Each of us has stories of how we got stung the farther we strayed from Jesus.  

Therefore, reflect on the way God has moved in your life with gratitude often. It will lift your spirits, give you hope and strengthen you for the road ahead.