Growth

For No Other Reason

When I was younger, I started a thankfulness journal. I can’t remember the exact reason for it other than I thought I wasn’t particularly grateful and that I needed to practice that characteristic in order to make it more more of a character trait. I would write down what I was thankful for as it occurred to me.  Soon I had a very long list of reasons to give thanks.

We may employ a similar approach when we think of reasons to praise God. We think of all the things that He has given us, and much like we list the attributes of the one we admire, we bestow praise on our Creator. We extol Him for the ways that He has shown us His grace. We give Him glory because He has given us good gifts.

It’s fitting that we praise God for these things, however, the truth is, even when we aren’t the recipients of God’s particular generosity, we should still be giving Him praise. In other words, even if no good thing is happening to me, my life should still glorify Him.  I praise Him for Who He is, not (only) for how He relates to me.

This is a hard thing. We’re used to showing our gratitude to God by celebrating what He has done for us.  We applaud the ways that He has worked in our lives, that He has been generous with His blessings, or that He has provided opportunities. We may all have our own list of 10,000 reasons that we should praise Him, but even if our own personal celebrations were nonexistent, there would still be millions of reasons to honor His name. His goodness alone, not as it is expressed as a gift to us, but simply because it is Who He is, is an overwhelming reason to bring Him praise.

What does this mean? Simply that there is always a reason to celebrate Him. Whether good or bad things are happening to us, He is good, and if for no other reason, that should prompts shouts  of praise.

 

 

Share your thoughts…what will you celebrate about God today?

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Growth Relationships

Gratitude for the Expected

As loyal readers are no doubt aware, I have great parents. Part of what makes my parents great was their relationship with each other. One of the many things that I grew to appreciate about my parents is that whenever we went out to dinner, my mom told my dad “thank you.” It didn’t matter that they had been together since she was 16, had been married more than 30 years, and that sometimes “out to dinner” was a drive through Taco Bell, she still expressed her gratitude to my dad. And it wasn’t just for the sake of platitudes; my mom actually meant it.

This practice of expressing gratitude for something that we’ve come to expect is something I’ve adopted in my relationship with my own husband. I realized this as he drove for hours on a work trip that he had accompanied me on. In my mind, driving is something that a husband does. (I realize others may differ on this, and that’s o.k.) I’m grateful that my husband is willing to do so. The fact that I expect it, doesn’t mean I’m not appreciative for it.

This practice should also be true in my relationship with God. Cultivating a heart of gratitude, means recognizing that while I expect the sun to rise in the morning, it certainly doesn’t have to. The fact that it did, is something that I appreciate. This plays out in a variety of ways – big and small. Whether it’s my loving husband, the home we share, the friends God has placed in my life, or the fact that today I got to go to a job I love, I’ve been given so much. After awhile the bounty of His gifts can become routine. Instead of just accepting them, I need to remind myself of how appreciative I am for them, and express my thankfulness accordingly.

I think we are used to giving thanks for an unexpected blessing, when God grants our “unthinkable” request. However, may we increasingly be just as grateful for the gifts we’ve already been given, for the ones we’ve come to expect.

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