GRATITUDE

A lack of gratitude is a terrible thing.  Good parents work with their children early to teach them to say "Thank-you."  I'm always amused when you give a child a piece of candy and the mother says to the child, "What do you say?"  After several promptings, the child says, "I'm sorry!"

A lack of gratitude leads to an attitude of entitlement.  And if left long enough, it turns into bitterness and anger.

Gratitude is so important!

One Christmas, a parent decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank-you note duties.  As a result, their grandmother never received acknowledgements for the generous checks she had given.

The next year things were different, however.  "The children came over in person to thank me," the Grandma told a friend triumphantly.

 "How wonderful!" the friend exclaimed.  What do you think caused the change in behavior?"

"Oh, that's easy," the Grandmother replied.  "This year I didn't sign the checks."

We all appreciate gratitude when it's expressed to us.  Don't you imagine that God also appreciates a thankful heart?

I spoke with a friend this week and asked him if he was having a good day.  He told me that every day he wakes up and can move his hands is a good day!  Do you feel that way?  Do you regularly give thanks to God for the blessings and protection that He's given you?

I send out thank-you notes.  I want people to know how much I appreciate their contributions to what we do at Free Methodist Community Church.  I am often thanked for these notes.  To be honest, I receive a lot of thank-you notes too.  They encourage me.  I keep them and look over them from time-to-time.

Have you noticed that when people are truly grateful it makes you want to do even more for them?

Wouldn't it be great if you could develop a discipline of giving thanks to God?

My childhood, bedtime prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  God bless Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Jeannette and Lib, Tommy and Bobby, Beverly and Ira and everybody in the world.  Help Harold be a good boy.  Amen.

My prayers are longer and more thorough now,  and hopefully more meaningful. 

How about yours?  Does God know how grateful you are for all the blessings He's poured into your life?  Do we really need a national holiday to remind us to give thanks to God?  Don't you think He might like to hear it regularly?

The scripture says:  Give thanks to the Lord for He is good - His love endures forever!