Hello again friend, welcome back to another post. Last week I was unable to get a post out on time; and for that I’m sincerely sorry. Part of the reason is that I learned about the explosion in Sierra Leone and wanted to post something geared towards encouragement for my fellow friends in S. L. but please keep reading to get an encouragement more from my parents.
Since we’re only a couple weeks away from Thanksgiving I would like to take the next couple weeks and unpack a few things I've learned about gratitude.
Thus, todays post is titled “Gratitude Mentality”.
As a young child, my family didn't have a lot of money. But I still remember some wise words from my mommy about being grateful for simply having the gift of life.
That stuck with me through the years especially in times of difficulties and hardships. While I don’t claim to always having a gratitude mindset; I can honestly say that I’ve seen a tremendous difference in the times I have.
But what exactly is the “gratitude mentality”?
A quick search on google defines gratitude as “the quality of being thankful”; or the “readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”
Webster defines ‘mentality’ as the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations.
Putting both definitions together, we can see that a gratitude mentality is a quality that is able to deal with trying situations with a readiness to show kindness.
Lets be honest, this isn’t an easy quality to achieve. And in today’s society, it is even more rare to see it in people.
Reality is this mindset isn’t only rare to us, it was also rare back in Bible times.
The story of the nine lepers who never came back to thank Jesus for healing them is probably the most familiar. However, there are several other people in the Bible that lacked gratitude at one or more point(s) in their life. An example that you may have overlooked in your Bible reading is the prophet Elijah.
In First Kings 18 we see the Lord using Elijah to confront King Ahab, defeat the prophets of Baal, and restore rain to the land.
But then after all those miracles, trying times came through the person of Jezebel.
And just like that, Elijah is unable to recount the greatness of God and instead falls into despair and depression. [I Kings 19:1-4].
A gratitude mentality is one that looks past painful or difficult circumstances and focuses on what’s positive.
In full transparency, I haven’t always had this mentality or outlook on life. In fact, here recently, I find the Lord reminding me to grateful even for the little things.
Philippians 4:4-7 states “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.“ Philippians 4:4-7 ESV
Conclusion
Finding a reason to be grateful especially when things aren’t working out the way you expect them to isn’t always easy.
However, if you just take another look, you will see the amazing things God has done and is currently doing for you!
To all my dear friends (blog readers) in Sierra Leone, I’m praying for you. With the recent explosions that killed so many people, perhaps you were personally affected and feel like there’s nothing to be grateful about. I prayerfully encourage you to take a second look at the hand of God. And yes it might be difficult to see, but please believe that God is still working for your good.
Quick Prayer
Dear God, than you for this short reminder about gratitude. Lord, I ask that you open my eyes to your wonders so that my faith will be strengthened. Please let me recount the good times and proceed with kindness inspite of the trying circumstances that surround me. Father, please give me the quality of gratitude. In Jesus name. Amen.
Stay Blessed
💙
Comments