“It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.”
-Psalm 92
TRUE THANKSGIVING IS…
Thanksgiving is supernatural
Giving thanks described life in the Holy Spirit; as a song of praise that is ever bubbling over in the heart- more than a positive outlook, more than a rote prayer; this true thanksgiving is a supernatural, Holy Spirit activity continually giving praise in our hearts to the Father.
Our western mindset teaches that thanks are what we exclaim when something has been done for us, such as a gift or favor. Our response is to say, “Thank you.” In biblical culture, when it speaks of thanks, the giving of thanks and praise is always addressed to the person of God himself. It gives honor and is an expression of who God is! AWESOME, WONDER, and WOW!!!!
Thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart
Because God is so glorious and fantastic, thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart, a delight like the little child clapping and jumping with abandonment to the necessary response of who God is. Scripture says that this attitude, this applause to God, is expressed…
“O clap your hands, all peoples; shout to God with the voice of joy.”
-Psalm 47:1
Thanksgiving is intentional and deliberate.
We are revealing the glory of God. We declare it to each other and the world of darkness by speaking it into the atmosphere. Simply put, thanksgiving is a leap into the arms of God.
I’m sure you are asking yourself right about now, “what on earth does this have to do with organizing?” Let me explain.
…” For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened”.
-Romans 1:21 NIV
This chapter speaks of the degeneration of humanity when Adam and Eve begin to believe the lie. This Chapter in Romans says that although they knew God, they neither glorified him nor gave thanks. When Adam and Eve stopped being thankful, when there was no more leaping into the arms of God’s love, it says they became futile in their thoughts.
Giving of thanks is not a footnote; giving of thanks is not a P.S. Futility means pointless, meaningless, going around in circles. When a person is not giving thanks, their thoughts become actions that result in absolute futility.
I see a direct correlation between the need to consume material goods and the absolute futility many clients feel after their purchases. Buying becomes a sport and/or an addiction without any regard to being thankful for each possession. This direct lack of respect (un-thankfulness) is the beginning of clutter build-up. Have you ever been unable to comprehend how to get your organizing process started because of the sheer magnitude of the clutter? “And their foolish hearts were darkened.”
The absence of thanksgiving is a heart of self-will or self-effort; everything that goes with the lie. Giving thanks joins us to divine wisdom and purpose. Giving thanks is the very oxygen of indwelling with God. Giving thanks is a valuable treasure.
…to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night…
-Psalm 92:2
It is a privilege that we are admitted to praise the Lord and hope to be accepted in the morning and every night, not only on Sabbath days but every day, not only in public but also in private and our families. Let us give thanks every morning for the mercies of the night, and every night for the mercies of the day, going out, and coming in.
Writing Down Your Blessings
I have a client who called me for time management skills. As a Christian client, I asked her if she spent any time in prayer before the day began. This happened to be on her wish list. Her current days are filled with meaningless activities, but ones she feels obligated to do for her family’s sake.
I asked her to experiment with getting out of bed. I asked her to write down 3 things she was thankful for yesterday and three things she was thankful for today. As she took authority over her hours, her attitude reflected the naming of the day. It was no longer just another day, and as the weeks progressed, her heart began to change, and new directions began to take shape in her life. Her hours were filled with purpose, meaning, and a renewed thankfulness.
Thankfulness will sharpen honor and respect for what we own.
This new perspective on our possessions will allow you to see not only how well you take care of your environment, but a new awareness will begin to become internalize on how well you take care of yourself!
I would consider myself to be a thankful person, and if you look around my blog, you know I thoroughly enjoy instilling this value of gratitude in my children. But something I realized this summer was when things are looking good and going my way, I am a thankful person.
It usually sounds something like this: Thank God I got a close parking spot in this horrible rain. Thank God I didn’t have to wait for 2 hrs for the doctor to see my son. Thank God he slept through the night. Thank God…
But here’s the thing I don’t just want to be filled with joy and gratitude when things are good because, as you know, in motherhood, good can turn to worse–in like SECONDS.
I want to be the kind of person that finds beauty and blessings in the mundane tasks of life and is not swayed by her emotions with every passing situation.
I want to find joy in the everyday drudgery of changing diapers, washing dishes for the 50th time in one day as I sit in holiday traffic, or stir the pot of soup for kids who will turn up their noses when they see the veggies.
I don’t need to be Maria Von Trapp in Sound of Music and sing and smile my way through every situation because we are not talking about being fake here, but I do want to learn to practice gratitude because it always gives birth to the deep-seated joy that’s rooted in His love.
Well, I have good news, we can take baby steps together towards being gratitude seekers!
We are constantly surrounded by small miracles. Let’s open our eyes and embrace them.
An Easy Way to Join in the Lean Into Gratitude: A 14 Day Journey of Thankfulness
It’s so easy to complain, grumble, or be dissatisfied with our given situation, our body, our home, our kids, our food, our job, our significant other, our parents, our school, our friends, and life as we know it.
To be less of that and focus our day on the joy and beauty surrounding us, we are kicking off a 14 Day Lean Into Gratitude Journey. I want to challenge myself, my family, and you to be more aware of the blessings that surround us each day.
This year we are kicking off this challenge Lean Into Gratitude: A 14 Day Journey of Thankfulness with 5 amazing bloggers:
Inspired by Family blog, Christ Centered Mama blog, Eileen Koff blog , Meaningful Mama and Real Nutritious Living blog. Each week one of us will encourage you to lean into gratitude.
It’s really easy to follow along this challenge.
- Just ask to join our Facebook page and in our group we will give you prompts, ideas, crafts, recipes to encourage you to go against the tendency to find fault in life.
That’s it! Let’s be gratitude seekers together.
Gratitude always gives birth to joy!
This blog post was written by Mari Eugenia: http://inspiredbyfamilymag.com/2017/11/01/lean-into-gratitude/
