I recently had a situation where I received some extra money, but then I was surprised by a bill that came unexpectedly. I even said out loud every time I get extra money it seems I get a bill (which isn’t true). But at that moment all I could see was the bill took my money rather than recognizing my loving and amazing father provided the money in advance for a bill that was coming. Same scenario just a different perspective. Being thankful has a lot to do with perspective. How do we look at the things that are happening to us and do we see the things that occur normally that we’ve come to take for granted, like the sun rising each morning or a warm comfortable bed to sleep in.
You can’t fake gratitude. We all know what it looks like when you buy a child a gift and they throw it down after opening it because its not what they wanted. Do we do that with God? I sure have. The bible says every good and perfect gift comes from above and comes down from the Father of lights. James 1:17.
God Established Thank You Days For Israel
Sabbath day, Sabbath year and jubilee were all times set aside to reflect on God’s goodness and to say thank you. What was amazing about them is God poured his blessings out on those who were thanking him. Every seventh day Israel stopped to recognize how good God was and then every seventh year they took the entire year to do it. After seven of these they took the fiftieth year as a celebration where they not only celebrated, but they returned their blessings back towards one another by releasing all debts.
God created an opportunity within their cultural experience to instill a habit that was needed for their future success. Thankfulness doesn’t just happen, we need to create opportunities within our daily routine that will remind us to be thankful. If we don’t, we will simply live and over time forget how to have a heart of thankfulness. A thankful attitude must be cultivated. It must be deliberately orchestrated and regularly practiced to renew our inner thoughts, attitudes and responses. A thankful heart creates changes within our perspective and opens our eyes to see through a different lens.
Establish A Routine This Year that Will Change Your Life
It’s one reason why we have chosen to make 2017 the year of thankfulness. We want to be intentional about the response of our heart regardless of what life may look like. Let’s renew our hearts and bend our wills to honor and bless the Lord. It is not easy to stay focused on thankfulness, but after a year of living this way I am expecting every part of my being to be alive and fresh with God’s perspective and grace for each new day.