I’ve been enjoying receiving daily emails from the folks at 40acts. Below is an email from the first week of Lent:
‘Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Someone scared me once by saying, “what if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?” For a while this panicked me into praying a ‘thank you’ for everything I could possibly think of, but I was saying thank you for the sake of it, not because I truly meant it.
God tells us to be thankful for everything, ‘Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (1 Thessalonians 5.18). Gratitude isn’t just for when things are easy; sometimes it is hard to be thankful for anything at all, this is when we need to stop and remember that God is with us in all circumstances. Life and every good thing in it is a gift from God – we have a lot to be thankful for.
However, we have to mean it. A casual ‘thanks mate’ is often a throwaway comment, something we say without thinking. But a genuine thank you has power; it adds value to an action, reflects kindness and even lifts our mood. If you are thanked you feel appreciated, just as if you thank someone else you are reminded of good things in your life. Saying thank you inspires and prompts generosity; the more someone thanks you the more you want to please them. The more you thank God the more you want to praise him.
Imagine if by simply thanking someone you encouraged them to do something nice for someone else. The ripple effect of two straightforward, yet powerful, words has the potential to go a long way and make a lot of difference.
from Emily Owen @ http://www.40acts.org.uk
Prayer: As we move through our day today, Gracious God, prompt us to express gratitude and to make someone else’s day. Amen.
