Monday, July 20, 2009

Gratitude is Golden

One of my favorite teachers in school used to emphasize about the importance of not focusing on “what you don’t have”. He admonished his pupil by saying, “start to be grateful for all the things you feel good about.”

When I was a kid, my parents would notoriously admonish me, “Be thankful for what you have rather than focusing on what you don’t have.” Grateful people simply receive more in life. Nobody likes whiners. It has been said that whiners are not winners. Ungrateful people are turn-offs and they drive people away. People are drawn to those who have a spirit of gratefulness.

Why is gratefulness so important? Because gratefulness is much more than simply saying “thank you.” Saying “thank you” means that we are acknowledging someone has provided something wonderful for us. It’s a way of acknowledging that we are not the epicenter of our universe. Someone else has provided for us. In other words, gratefulness is actually a form of humility.

Humility is not saying, “Oh, I’m nothing. I’m really nothing.” That’s false modesty. Humility is having a spirit of gratitude for all that’s been given to us and the blessings of life. Humility is expressed by gratefulness, and gratefulness results in, or finds its source in, humility.

We all appreciate humble, grateful persons. And that is precisely what God calls us to be. I properly acknowledge that we have the capacity to choose in life. It is called free will. We can choose to have thoughts of gratefulness. We’ll be happier if we do. Everyone around us will be happier if we do.

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