a grateful heart
Give thanks with a grateful heart. I have sung that song a hundred times, I
know. But driving home yesterday afternoon, the latter part of the phrase
became alive to me. Sure we can give thanks when a kind gesture is rendered.
No one has to tell us to give thanks with a grateful heart. That naturally
happens. We are genuinely grateful, thus the offering of thanks. But what
about those times when there is not a grateful heart and the thought of
giving thanks is the last thing on our minds. How can we possibly give
thanks when the bills are past due, and there is no money to pay them? Or
how about when you feel as if life’s rug has been pulled out from under you
and you are left flat on you face. It is almost impossible to give thanks
with a grateful heart in those moments. And yet the Bible tells us…in all
things, give thanks.
So, are we to give thanks because of what has happened? I think that would
almost put us in danger of being hypocrites. But what we can do is be
thankful for the One who is has not left us, the One who promised to meet
our needs if we serve Him, the One who, whether we realize it or not, will
carry us through the darkest places in our lives.
Giving thanks with a grateful heart is not for the weak in spirit. It
requires certain characteristics, the main being trust. If we could only
look around what is happening in the ‘now’ and see with eyes of faith the
future God holds for us. Trust…that’s what it all boils down to. Trusting in
the maker of the wind and rain…and of the sunshine, too.
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