Gratitude GIF’s
This adorably grateful puppy sums up one of the endearing qualities of emotional therapy dogs. Dogs not only listen to all your problems, but they are grateful for every meal, every toy, and every walk. They are grateful that you came home to see them. Of course the affection you show them, they lavishly and gratefully return.
Unlike dogs, sometimes I am overwhelmed with gratitude and other times it’s a matter of will or focus to recover from a negative state of mind or encounter. When I choose gratitude, almost immediately my soul is filled with warmth and affection. Somehow gratitude is seamlessly interwoven with love.
What I can choose is to:
recount daily blessings (remember the Counting Your Blessings song in White Christmas?);
remember times God’s extravagant and outrageous grace (like the day I learned my son had finished active duty in the Marine Corps);
or revisit journal entries (even yesterday’s can be inspiring).
As a last resort, I borrow from someone else’s gratitude (14,000 things to be happy about, Kipfer, 1990 or Practicing the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence, 1692)
In Scriptures there’s a verse that says “in every situation be thankful” I Thes 5.18 (Amplified Bible). Maybe you have heard this dissected; the point being that Paul writes in not for all circumstances be thankful. Embracing the good as well as the bad, knowing that the Creator and Sustainer of all life is for you, with you, and in control is a challenge at times. This certainly was true for Job. What brought Job back to solid ground is I believe God was telling him it’s not all about Job. At times what is terrible misfortune can be transformed into good. The book of Job changed man’s understanding of suffering for all time. There is a much bigger picture.
As my friend likes to remind me, all things are filtered through the loving hands of the Father. Many years ago I was so disappointed – first of all to be divorced Christian and second to be a part-time young single parent with an only child. I spent many years grieving, being frustrated and worried. Now I can see that being a full-time single mom with four children (when I was twelve I had wanted a dozen) would have spelled a much harder future for myself and my son.
In Romans 8.28, the promise is that God will work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Perhaps believing this will give you hope. Hope is what I feel when I have glimpses of beauty, even while I cannot see the front of the tapestry the Creator is weaving. My life is a thread, and One Day I will see His artistry. I am grateful for who He is; that He is for us; and that He loves us with a crazy love – a lover that is jealous and relentless until He captures our hearts and rules over all other affections.
Set me as a seal on your heart,
as a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death;
Ardent (jealous) love is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Love’s flames are fiery flames – the fiercest of all.
Mighty waters cannot extinguish love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
Song of Songs 8.6-7 (Holman Christian Study Bible)
