Attitude of Gratitude

I've been working on gratitude lately. 

If you must know, it's more complicated than it sounds, especially when going through hard things in life.

When you are feeling low, it's hard to get out of bed and give thanks for the day with a lusty shout or even to stumble out of bed and mumble "thank you" to the Almighty. 

Most of us lie there after the alarm has gone off, staring at the ceiling, wishing we could immediately go back to bed. That's not an ideal way to begin the day, but there it is. 

Still, there's stuff to do, so we swing our legs over the edge, hit the floor, listen to our joints pop like Rice Krispies, and we say something profound and meaningful like, "Shit."  

Come on, you know you do this.  I'm just speaking the truth right now, and sometimes, the truth deserves a cuss word or two to describe it adequately. 

That said, we all know there are many days when gratitude doesn't come easily, and when we find that even though we might be intellectually aware that we have a lot to be thankful for, we feel as though we don't have a grateful bone in our bodies. 

Instead of doing the same things every day and expecting a different result, it may be time for a change.  Maybe it's time to force ourselves to be grateful.  

Let me explain.  

If we want to learn what it means to live in gratitude, even when things aren't going well around us or within us, we must first reframe gratitude's concept.  

Gratitude is more than just saying "thank you." It's a way of being and moving in the world. While it ought to result in action, it's more of an attitude than anything else. Gratitude shapes how we see ourselves and others, and when we fully embrace a life lived in gratitude, it can define us in transformative ways.  

But we must break our old habits of living in scarcity, which keeps us focused on what we lack instead of what we already have.  

I read this quote from Melody Beattie recently, and it fits perfectly with what I am about to say: 

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

When we learn to live in gratitude, we soon discover that our mistakes, struggles, and worries about what happens next are also reframed and transformed.  

We can learn to love all that has been, even if it wounded us.  We can learn to find peace in our present, fully living every day, grateful for the gifts it brings.  We can learn to stop worrying about our future, surrendering it to God in gratitude and hope.  

And it all starts with getting up in the morning and opening our hearts in gratitude for whatever the day will bring.  It begins with us moving through our days intentionally looking for things to be grateful for, anticipating them in joy.  

Does this mean that hard things won't happen?  Absolutely not.  They will, and some of them are hard to endure, much less be grateful for, but when we live in gratitude, we will find we have the strength to move past them.  

May we all find the strength and courage to live grateful lives.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.