Image by Cailin Valente
How often do we give thanks for the things that we already have?
Do we give thanks to God every day?
Or do we only do it during Thanksgiving and the holidays?
What are we grateful for, anyway?
Do we even spend time feeling thankful at all or do we complain about the things we don’t have and how different things could’ve been or how they should be?
However you feel about your life right now, we can all use a little more gratitude in our lives.
Philanthropist Sir John Templeton says:
“An attitude of gratitude creates blessings.”
When we start feeling grateful for little things, bigger blessings start to follow. It all starts with God, who is the one who created everything in our lives. He created the world, the animals, the sky, and every human being, and saw that it was all good. If we want to have more gratitude in our lives, we need to notice the blessings that we have on a daily basis.
It’s easy to feel grateful when things are going well, but we really need gratitude when our lives are chaotic and messy, when we feel like there is no hope, because gratitude gives us something to hope for. Through gratitude, we find the hope for a better future because we already have good things in our lives in spite of the hardships that we suffer.
I’m hoping that through this Bible study, you and I will come to learn how to be grateful no matter what else is going on in our lives. There is gratitude to be found everywhere: in little things, in big things, in our strengths, in our weaknesses, in the good times, in the bad times, in the ordinary, and in the extraordinary.
All we need to do is open our eyes and ask God to help us see the blessings in everything.
As you meditate on the passages I share with you, I also want you to start writing a small list of things that you feel grateful for on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be a long list. Just start with three things or just one thing. Believe me when I say that a little bit of gratitude can go a long way.
