Let's Always Have an Attitude of Gratitude!

Attitude - the state of mind toward some thing
Gratitude - the state of being thankful

An attitude of gratitude means making it a habit to always express thankfulness and appreciation
in every arena of our life - on a regular basis - for the small things as well as the big things. My mother would always say, "Every day is not going to be a good day, but be thankful that it is as well as it is."

If we have gratitude within us, we will be better equipped to endure the hard times like a good soldier. That attitude of gratitude is within our system, but sometimes we have to dig a little deeper to find it! Occasionally, what weaken us as Christians is when we get down, we get discouraged, and/or we get bitter about things in life. It's during those times that we must remember that God is the orchestrator of it all. The things that we encounter day-to-day are not intended to kill us, but instead to bless us - so let's get an attitude of gratitude! That attitude will help keep our spirits built up, and will help keep us strong.

There has never been a time in the history of the world when we (as a people) have had so much and yet many of us remain so unthankful. Friends, we ought to be eternally grateful to God that we have all that we have. Think about all that you have to be grateful for: we have eyes to see, legs to walk, air to breathe, food to eat, a mouth to praise God, and ears to hear His word, now that's MORE than worthy of our praise and gratitude. Oh, how we should be expressing thankfulness for God's blessings on a daily basis!

Ingratitude is dangerous! To return evil and ingratitude to God or man for the goodness we have received could be devastating for us, as it was for Haman in the book of Esther. All the Kings servants bowed, and reverenced Haman except for one man. Haman was so angry that he wanted that man hung, instead Haman himself was hung on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai (nobody wants that!).

Let's instead have an attitude as Joseph had. Although he was put in prison for something he wasn't guilty of, his attitude was so good that he was put in charge of the whole prison. He stood on the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that tells us, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Later when Joseph was let out of prison, he was blessed tremendously, because he kept an attitude of gratitude! Let's be like Joseph in that respect.

With all that said, let the Church say Amen and... AMEN!