Gratitude

“Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods. 

He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.

The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

    for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.” Psalm 95:2-7 NLT

It’s gotten a little too entitled for my taste around here lately. I want my family to tell me what they need, but sometimes it feels like all I hear is what is “needed.” I’m not a geenie and I certainly don’t use magic….but sometimes it feels like a little too much like “your wish, is my command” and I’ve reached the end of my patience with it. Whether someone “needs” socks because laundry needs to be done, or someone “needs” me to pick up yogurt at the store, or someone “needs” me to buy something on the all to easy drop-it-at-your-door online store…..it’s not to hard to see where entitlement creeps in. I don’t like like entitlement whenever it makes itself known, and most of all I don’t like that I see it in me. Ick.

However, there seems to be a little known antidote. One that causes the demands to silence, the grumbling to cease and the genie to get sucked back into its lamp: Gratitude. 

Here’s the thing, gratitude changes so many things we often overlook, and seldom remember. Gratitude lifts our focus. It can change our mindset. It reminds us to worship God. All of these things are good…..but I want to flip the script a little bit, because it is worth remembering one incredibly important thing: gratitude gets our focus off of ourselves, because gratitude blesses someone else. Gratitude blesses the heart of our Father. 

One of the things that I love, is that my kids are quick studies. They might grumble, get frustrated or forget their chores from time to time….but they are quick to apologize and even quicker to change. I can learn a lot from them in that regard. I can’t always say the same thing for myself though. There is so much that changes and can change when it comes to gratitude. We go from being grumbling little stinkers, to standing in a place of awe for the blessings we have been given. 

And there’s the rub: as a person and as a parent, it is endlessly difficult for me when I am treated like a ATM machine verses when I am treated with kindness, respect and gratitude. How is it any different in regards to God? It’s not. He’s a Father, caretaker and an all-powerful being with feelings that we are created in the image of. We’re not doing ourselves any favors by focusing on the “gimme” instead of thanking him for what he already “gave me.” When we come back to gratitude we remember who God is, and we approach him, and our relationship with him, with the honor and respect that it is due. It is good for us to remember and it is a pleasing offering to him too. We turn from our self-entitled ways, and come to a place of love and respect for the One who has already given us endless gifts.

Gratitude takes our eyes off ourselves and places them on the one who deserves it: our loving Father. Any time we loose the focus on ourselves, and invest it in relationship with him is a gift so much more worth giving.

So much love, Joy