The Attitude of Gratitude

This is not a statement I came up with but ever since hearing it around thanksgiving time I have come back to this theme through strange ways.  I have been reminded of it often and have begun to understand the benefit of what comes from this attitude.

A few months ago I felt God tugging on my heart to put an emphasis on manners and being polite.  Now, you have to understand I bulk at traditionalism and prefer not to conform to what society says is "right" just because it is right by them.  Maybe this was God softening me, helping me to live out the whole more flies to honey... although I never understood why anyone would want to attract flies.  Anyway.  The main person I felt called to be courteous to was one who had brought much pain.  The fighter in me began to fight my own flesh, to deny myself the satisfaction of a smug comment, I felt God saying to me; "say thank you" "say please" "say you're welcome."  Out of this came, "be kind" "be courteous" even if I was met with harsh responses and sarcastic comments, obedience to God was more important than my want to fight fire with fire.  The commandment to love well was held higher than my own sinful agendas.  At first it was not taken well by others, because this was not the norm and was not what was expected from myself, it was not how I had acted in my normal state.  But through time, I believe it had an impact, more so to me than anyone else.  

Saying thank you, looking for things to say thank you for, allows you to change your thinking.  It retrains your brain to spot the things that are good, that you should be thankful for but usually are not.
I believe this also allows you to crush the expectations that you may have for people, relationships, even places of business, because you look for any and all things good to say thank you for.  It breaks down life to the point of expecting nothing, not because you think poorly of others but because really you get what you need from Jesus.  Your attitude of gratitude increases.  It forces you to verbalize the appreciation, which means you are vocalizing positivity further engraining the moment in your brain and at the same time, blessing someone else with words that affirm.  Overall I would say it brings you into a place in life that you have a more positive outlook.  

An attitude of gratitude breeds contentment.  You can be free from thoughts that whisper to you on a daily basis; thoughts like "Why doesn't my husband do this for me" "why doesn't my wife act like this more"  even something as simple as "Are you kidding me, why didn't that car let me cut in!"  You are content with where your partner is in life, you are even thankful for progress made, no matter how small, and you are content with it.  Do you struggle with a critical spirit?  I do, it is part of my ugly.  I am not alone, I know many struggle with this.  An attitude of gratitude begins destroying the critical spirit.  There is no room for critiquing when God puts highlights on the good.  You become more in tune to God's heart.

....and then...

Through contentment, you are free to let God work.

This is what I have experienced.  I don't know if everyone would get this from one seemingly simple decision to say "thanks."  I started out not really meaning it, doing it out of obedience to what God was telling me to do, but now after a lot of prayer for God to help me see these positive moments I am more aware and even more genuine in it.  Let it be said that this came out of a place that started with God, praising him for moments that seemed very bleak.  Thanking Him for hard things, messy things, and seemingly impossible things.  Please know this was not the result of a "to do" list, but a process that began many months before making the decision to say thank you.  God had many building blocks in place before he was ready to give me the order.  He didn't give that order until He knew I was ready for the next step.  And isn't that how he works with everything.  We need only to be in the moment with Him.  Not looking ahead at where we want to be... that is what the world says... He says to look at Him.  Take heart my friends, He is with you where you are and desires to walk with you as you go, you don't get to push Him ahead of you so you can reach a goal.  Our God is more personal than that.