A Grateful Heart

I did it again: walked away from a blessing from God without a word of thanksgiving either on my lips or in my heart. The fact that it was not in my heart upset me more than my lack of manners. Was I grateful? Apparently not enough.

I took God for granted.

I needed to cultivate a grateful heart. The first thing I did was to ask God, the Author and Finisher of my faith, to grow it in me. Then I asked Him to show me how to cooperate with His work in me. I didn’t want to pay Him lip service; I wanted a truly grateful heart.

He showed me how quick I am to feel resentment when He doesn’t do something I have asked of Him, or when His answer is, “Wait.” He showed me how much I feel cheated when something for which I have asked Him is not forthcoming. He made me see how prone to anger I am when the hand of grace is also the hand that chastens me. He made me face the blame I have harbored toward Him for my losses. All of these emotions controlled me. They had no place in a grateful heart.

He made me understand that gratitude is an attitude, not a feeling. Was I able to give Him thanks in everything, as Paul exhorted the Thessalonians? Or was my thanksgiving limited to those things that benefited me? Could I thank Him when things do not go my way? He taught me that if I look for it, even in the direst of circumstances, there is always one thing for which to be grateful. I may not feel thankful, but it is important to thank Him anyway. I learned to say with Job, “Shall I accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Another area that needed work was misdirected thanksgiving. I had been giving thanks to everyone but God for the blessings in my life. It is easy to thank my neighbor for a blessing of kindness, but it never occurred to me to thank God for the neighbor whose kindness blessed me.

Gratitude must be exercised in order to grow. With regular practice, gratitude grows and moves from the head, to the will, to the heart. When this happens, emotion accompanies thanksgiving, but it is not in control. Then the heart will be grateful, and out of the grateful heart will naturally spring thanksgiving, which rightly belongs to God.