Gratitude (noun): The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
How many of us truly have sense of what gratitude really is? I mean yes we are thankful to God for the things we have that are tangible. If we're being honest part of us also expect to have things like a roof over our head, clothes on our back, and food to eat, but what about the intangible things? See we tend to get so caught up in what we see that we overlook the intangible things that hold more value. I believe that we don't often express our gratitude until we're in the presence of a moment that is overwhelming to our hearts. You know those moments that have you really stop and realize how thankful you are for the people in your life or to be in the place you are in life? Why is it that our gratitude isn't magnified like that with God all the time? Why do we wait until we get this overwhelming, overjoyed feeling of gratitude to express our thankfulness to God? Is it because we've become so comfortable and use to having basic necessities that we just expect it to always be there? What if all of the tangible things that you love were taken from you, would you still have a heart of gratitude before God? Would you still thank Him and praise Him for the breath that you breathe if that was the only thing in life you had left?
I in some ways am guilty of this. I thank God everyday for the things that I have and often take for granted but I don't express my gratitude to Him as often as I should sometimes. I realized as I woke up this morning with a heart full of gratitude just from having a moment of being in his presence I realized that I don't always allow myself to be this full with God. God then placed this on my heart; He said "The same fullness you get from being around your friends and family and even walking in your purpose, and the same gratitude you express to them, why don't you do that more often to me?" He said "I want you to be full in me and express your gratitude to me." See we get so caught up in our day to day life and find ourselves too busy for God. Too busy for the man who is breathing the air into our lungs that allows us to even be busy. God wants us to be full in Him. He wants us to acknowledge Him for who he is just as much as we acknowledge Him for the things He has done. We need to have more ahhhh moments with God where we are just still in His presence. Where we just bask in the moment of His presence and really think about how good He has been to us and how amazing He is. We ought become full off of who He is just as much as we become full off of what He's done. After all, we are talking about the God who created the stars in the sky and named them all, commands the winds and directs them where to go, calms the sea to be still and so many other amazing things.
God loves our pure hearts, our gratitude, and our thankfulness. So today I challenge you to just think about life, your life and how far you've come. Think about the world and the bigger picture of it and have a moment with God & just express your gratitude and thankfulness to Him.
My prayer is that we all will spend more time in God's presence and become more full in Him.
-With love,
Yours Truly, Eb
Yes so true! Thank you!
A very thought provoking message. We can express gratitude for the things we have and at some point they can become old and we want something else. But when we focus on God and who He is and His greatness, that doesn't become old or outdated. We are forever grateful.Excellent blog.