Do you take time to think thankfully about those who have gone before you? What does your hall of faith look like?
Do you want to know God better? Do you want to become more thankful? According to the Bible, the answer is simple: study.
Psalm 111 puts it clearly: a) worship God with thankfulness, b) study his works, and c) follow God’s words if you want to know God and find wisdom and understanding.
Does gratitude ever feel like a panacea or unachievable? Are we giving thankfulness too much credit?
The benefits of gratitude abound. It increases our faith and resilience. Thankfulness leads to stronger relationships and health. Grateful people experience greater joy and handle life’s problems more easily.
Biologically we can observe how gratefulness rewires our brain releasing chemicals that make us feel better and allow blood to flow more easily which frees us to think more creatively and clearly. And when we choose to think gratefully every day, the reticular activator reinforces those things we choose to think about.
So physical, spiritual, and relational benefits abound. But there is a dark side of gratitude we don’t like to think about.
Do you love waiting in line? How about waiting on God’s timing?
Our culture drives us to get results. Yesterday. We look for ways to speed up and become more efficient. We’re impatient when someone makes us wait or slow down.
So it makes sense that we grow impatient in our pursuit of becoming more grateful.