Thanksgiving Day is this week! I believe that thanksgiving should be more than something we focus on for one day a year. For that reason, I have made a "tradition" of repeating this post about a simple way to make thanksgiving more than just a holiday. I believe it should be the lifestyle of the believer.
It was really eye opening to me the day I stumbled upon Deuteronomy 28:47, (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition), in my Bible reading. In this verse we find out that one of the reasons that God's people were living a less than life was "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of mind and heart in gratitude for the abundance of all with which He had blessed you." Gratitude is important to God and it's life changing for us. Ann Voskamp, author of the book One Thousand Gifts, writes, "Give thanks if you are joyful is, in reality, to be joyful give thanks." Did you notice in that verse in Deuteronomy how, to God, both our joyfulness and our gratitude are not only important, but connected?
So, how do we become a more grateful, thankful person? How do we make thanksgiving a lifestyle? I've found that one simple habit has been life changing for me in making me a more thankful person. Before Ann Voskamp wrote her book she blogged about her habit of gratitude journaling, of writing down at least three things that she was grateful for each day. She encouraged her blog readers to do the same, and then once a week we would write blog posts filled with our weekly gratitudes and link it up on her website. I began gratitude journaling due to her encouragement in 2009 and have been writing down at least three things I am grateful for every day since. I've now journaled almost fourteen thousand things that I am grateful for in the subsequent years. This simple practice has helped me to see, in the hardest of times and in the best of times, that God is always faithful and there is always something to be thankful for. Thanksgiving has become a habit! It really is that simple. If you want to develop a more thanks filled lifestyle, why not give it a try? All you need is some sort of simple notebook or journal, a pen and a willing heart!
I have started many gratitude journals but I always forget about them. I do not forget to be thankful. I just forget to write it down.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I love about writing it down is that the journals become books of remembrance about God's care and faithfulness and blessings in my life.
ReplyDeleteThere is both power and processing in the written. I too have a personal library of God’s faithfulness.
ReplyDeleteThat’s wonderful!
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