An Attitude of Gratitude for 2009
by Monica M. Deer
I was given the opportunity some time ago to speak to a group of women about having an attitude of gratitude (hence the title of this article). As I started to prepare, I started by asking myself one basic question…What does it mean to be grateful? Gratitude is defined in Wikipedia as “the substance of a heart ready to show appreciation, or thankfulness.” It is not simply an emotion, which involves a pleasant feeling that we get when we receive a favor or benefit from someone else but it’s the combination of a state of being and an emotion. Although gratitude is something that anyone can experience, some people seem to feel grateful more often than others. People who tend to experience gratitude more frequently also tend to be happier, more helpful and forgiving, and less depressed than people who are less grateful.
Ask yourself what am I thankful for? It’s easy to be thankful when things are going well. No one has a problem being thankful when they are on top of the world, but what is your attitude when things aren’t going very well? Paul writes in Philippians 4:12 – “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. In whatever state you find yourself be ye content.” What does it mean to have Contentment? Contentment is finding “happiness with one’s situation in life” – no matter what the situation! Now I don’t know about you but I don’t always feel like being “happy” about the things that are going on in my life. When I have company coming to visit, have my meal menu planned and all of a sudden my stove goes on the fritz, I don’t really feel like being happy…or when I’ve had a relaxing vacation, we’re driving home and all of a sudden my 2 year old and 3 month old both start throwing up (in the car – 400 miles from home), that’s not really a call for celebration…or when I’m standing in the hospital, looking down at my newborn baby, tubes going every direction, not being able to breath independently, having to lie in an incubator with no physical touch from the outside world – well, that’s not really a joyous occasion in my opinion.
But, being thankful enables us to overcome our problems instead of being overcome by them. It allows us to look at the situation and not be overtaken by fear and hopelessness, but to know that something (or someONE greater is at work). I heard Oprah Winfrey make a statement about being grateful and it stuck with me. She said, “When you dwell on all the reasons you have to be grateful, you open yourself to receiving even more good – and more good comes to you. As you begin to feel abundant, you’ll be willing and able to pass positive things on to others.” Although I don’t agree with what Oprah says most of the time, I think Biblically speaking we call that philosophy reaping what you sow. If we choose to dwell on what bad things are going on, then we only feel and experience the negative aspects of that situation. We cannot experience fear and gratitude at the same time. We cannot feel anger and gratitude in the same moment. And we cannot possibly feel resentment or jealousy when we view the situation from a place of gratitude.
Recently, I asked several of my friends to email me what came to their mind when they thought of Gratitude. My roommate in college, Stephanie, who lost her father to brain cancer told me this about gratitude. “When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, we all asked why us, why do we have to go through this horrible time? But my dad said to all of us, why not us, what makes us better than any one else. God knows us intimately and would not allow us to face this unless we could do it and we are going to go through it together. That was so comforting even after he died. We still go through it together as a family because why not us.”
Many times the “why me” attitude blocks our attitude of gratitude. When we face a situation that is hard to deal with or that we don’t understand, instead of looking at it from a place of contentment we often face those situations with despair. Now I’m not saying we have to be “happy” in every situation. We don’t even have to like them…but the scripture tells us to be CONTENT. Being content means knowing who is in control and who knows what is best for us – even when we don’t. It’s having an attitude of gratitude for the blessings that God gives us even when we can’t see those blessings for mess that is in front of us.
I received an email several years ago and I never forgot the implications of this simple prayer of thanksgiving. Maybe you can look at it and see that it’s in our attitude of being grateful for what we have that helps us find that place of contentment and thankfulness – no matter what the situation:
Thankful Prayer
Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes; we have plenty of food to eat.
Thank you for this pile of dirty, stinky laundry; we have plenty of nice clothes to wear.
And I would like to thank you, Lord, for those unmade beds; they were so warm and comfortable last night. I know that many have no bed.
My thanks to you, Lord, for this bathroom, complete with all the splattered mirrors, soggy, grimy towels and dirty lavatory; they are so convenient.
Thank you for this finger-smudged refrigerator that needs defrosting so badly; it has served us faithfully for many years. It is full of cold drinks and enough leftovers for two or three meals.
Thank you, Lord, for this oven that absolutely must be cleaned today. It has baked so many things over the years.
The whole family is grateful for that tall grass that needs mowing, the lawn that needs raking; we all enjoy the yard.
Thank you, Lord, even for that slamming screen door. My kids are healthy and able to run and play.
Lord, the presence of all these chores awaiting me says You have richly blessed my family. I shall do them cheerfully and I shall do them gratefully.
Amen
GPS – Godly Positioned Spirit
by Genel Webb
This is that great time of year where many of us evaluate the previous year and seek God for direction for the coming year. It is a precious time of year for me. As I examine 2008 and consider 2009, one of the things that I’m asking is, what was the most significant lesson that God allowed me to learn. One comes to mind but it wasn’t exactly a new lesson. It was a confirmation of a previous lesson. The lesson was to keep myself open to His direction, as He reveals details.
I have to be mindful that there are instances where He reveals more of His plan concerning my life’s purpose. Sometimes I take what appear to be “wrong turns.” They are wrong turns, especially if I decide that I know the way. In 2008, I certainly experienced some of these. Yet, I know that when I maintain my relationship with Him and acknowledge that He is my shepherd, the wrong turns are only detours. By continuing to walk with Him as He leads me down the path of my life’s journey, He allows me to journey from those wrong turns and still progress toward His intended purpose for my life. I’m forever and always grateful for His omniscience, His omnipresence and His omnipotence. This introspectiveness brought the analogy and acronym of GPS to mind, a Godly Positioned Spirit. I can never be lost if I commit, trust and follow God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6.
Promises, Premonitions and Preparations
by Nora Neal-Dagett
I was rummaging through a small drawer looking for some batteries when my fingers fell upon a stack of old cards. The cards were from family members and friends the words touched my heart as I read each one. At the bottom of the stack, there was a card from my husband. Like so many of the cards he had given me over the years it was beautiful. The words were written in script on a pastel blue and yellow paper. Because you have become such an important part of my life, I just had to let you know how much you really mean to me. Then he signed it, thanks for loving me, I will always love you! And that was a promise he kept. He loved me until the day God called him home.
I sat there for a moment and allowed all the warm memories to flood my mind. I remembered the Christmas before he died – we were laughing and talking – then out of the blue he said “Honey, I don’t think I’m going to live much longer”. Immediately, I said “Don’t say what you don’t want to happen”. He calmly replied “I’m just telling you how I feel, Sweetie, the Daggett men don’t live to be very old”. His premonition was true he died eight months later.
On the last Sunday in October of this year I was standing in our church at the prayer alter holding my mothers hand. Clearly, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper “she will not be here with you next Sunday”. Tears immediately welled in my eyes. Then I was distracted because Mom began to cough and I tried to assist her as best I could. On Wednesday of that week Mom suffered a stroke. In my mind the whisper from the Holy Spirit was preparation for me that my life and the life of my mom was about to change.
Promises, premonitions and preparation flow from God to us on a daily basis if we are quiet enough to hear them. They may occur during time of meditation and prayer or when you are driving or doing dishes or running the sweeper, or mopping. It is that still, small voice that guides and directs the inner woman. The secret is not to be fearful when you hear it and most importantly not disregard it – but quickly say. “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I feel privileged and blessed to be in the presence of the presence! To hear your voice through the Holy Spirit speak quietly to me and prepare me for the next step. Help me Lord to always listen and always respond to that which you instruct me to do.
Scripture: John 14:15, 16, 17;” If you love me you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be with you”.
The Beauty of Holiness
by Linda Lail
Watch the little girls with their bouncing curls, bright smiles and twinkling eyes. See how they imitate their mothers and other women as they dance through the dress rehearsal on their way to becoming beautiful young women. “Beauty is only skin deep” my mother used to say when she thought her daughters were becoming too much concerned about outward appearance. “It’s what is inside that counts”.
It is what is inside that counts. The mothers of my generation understood something that we seem to have lost in the present generational culture. There is a beauty that does not get its glow from a bottle or a nip and tuck. It is the beauty of holiness. The beauty that only a dynamic relationship with the Holy God, our Father, can produce. The glow that comes from time spent in His presence in worship and praise, from time spent in His word.
Remember Moses as he came down from Mt. Sinai after spending time talking with Yahwah? His countenance was so bright that he had to wear a veil to protect the Israelites from the “glow”. The glow was not a result of Moses beauty but rather a reflection of the beauty of the One in whose presence he had spent time. True beauty does not come easy. There is a price to pay to get the “glow” that is everlasting. In John 16:24 Jesus says “if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”. It is the cross that transforms us into a woman of beauty. As we daily give up our desires, nail them to the cross, we take on more and more of the beauty of Jesus. As a little girl in Sunday School we used to sing “let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all His wonderful passion and purity. O, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, til the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”
Father, create within us, Your daughters, a deep, burning desire to seek after the beauty of Holiness, the only beauty that is everlasting.
Even so, come Lord Jesus, come.
Promises
by Maria Simone
The Christmas season can be so busy, and it’s easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. On Christmas eve morning, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the shopping and cleaning that I still had left to do, so I opened my bible to Luke Chapter 2 and asked the Lord to give me a new perspective. Verse 8 speaks of the angel of the Lord coming to the shepherds, to announce the birth of Jesus. Verses 9-11 go on to say, “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” I put myself in the place of the shepherds, and thought about what it must have been like to be there in the fields at that moment. Their entire lives they had been waiting for the promised Messiah, holding on to the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (verse 6). Their entire lives…waiting for Jesus…and right there in front of them was the angel, announcing His birth…God had kept His promise to send a Savior to deliver us from our sins. Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s word will not return void, but WILL accomplish what He has sent it forth to do. God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
So we see from this example that God fulfills His promises from His word, but what about those specific promises that He speaks to the hearts of His children? Consider Simeon for a moment, from Luke 2:25. Like the shepherds, he too had been waiting for the Messiah to come. We see in verse 26 that “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” God had made a very specific promise to Simeon. Can you imagine Simeon’s joy when he walked into the temple courts and saw the Jesus child? Verses 28-32 tell us, “Simeon took him (Jesus) in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” A very specific promise from the Lord to Simeon, fulfilled. God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
Do you have a promise from the Lord that you’ve been holding on to? I do – six years ago God made a very specific promise to me regarding my husband’s salvation. I can hear His words in my heart and see the image in my mind, as if it was yesterday. Do I sometimes get weary waiting for God to fulfill this promise? Sure I do, but then I think about the shepherds and Simeon, and how they trusted God to keep His word, and He did not disappoint them. In fact, He fulfilled His promise above and beyond their wildest dreams. So my friend, I encourage you today to take heart, and hold on to the promises of God…He ALWAYS keeps His promises.