The Theme of Thankful

I was in my 30s when I first began to notice that God would work with me along certain “themes” in my life.  The first time I perceived this intense, focused teaching, the theme was “Create in Me the Heart of a Worshipper.”  Mark had been called (I say Mark, but both are really called when a church calls), to be a worship pastor and we were off to serve our first church full time.  Even though I had sung in church practically all my life, the Lord taught me things during that time, about being open and free in worship, about leading others, that were new to me.  The next theme was “Be Generous” – not just with money and possessions, but with myself.  I felt He was calling me to be open and generous with my time, as well as with material things, and to learn how to pour into people with love and sincerity.  Following those years, the new theme was, “Be a Servant.”  This was the natural progression from the “Be Generous” years.  During this time, I felt the Lord calling me to take a step back, and do things, and serve in ways that were not “up front” ways, as I had always done.  I had many opportunities to exercise this “Be a Servant” mentality during that particular time.  After one season/theme is over, it is not that I don’t focus on it anymore, but that I am to incorporate that “lesson/theme” into my life from that point on.  So when we moved into “Be Generous,” it was not that I stopped asking him to “Create In Me the Heart of a Worshipper,” but that was not the primary focus of the learning at that point.  I’m sure many of you have experienced these same seasons of “themes,” as I have, or maybe you haven’t really thought about it, but with a little reflection you might see how God was working on a particular thing in your life.

Lately, I’ve felt the theme is “Be Thankful.”  He is teaching me that gratitude is key to contentment and happiness.  If I am continually grateful for all I have, it is hard to focus on what I don’t have.  If I continually express gratefulness for my family, it’s hard to get “snippy” with them when they do something that irritates me!  If I am grateful for my church, I’ll be less likely to complain about something not exactly to my liking.  If I have an attitude of gratefulness in my business, it helps me to recognize that my abilities come from God, and he has given me a chance to do work that helps people, and helps to provide for our family.  If I am thankful for my dishes, it makes unloading the dishwasher more tolerable, and on and on the examples could go, from the mundane to those of greater importance. 

Often when our family is in a restaurant, and it is noisy and not conducive to saying a formal blessing, someone will ask, “Are we grateful?” Everyone at the table then gives their assent, that yes, we are thankful and blessed.  It is a way of pausing, of reflecting even for just a moment, on the Giver of the food, and our gratefulness for it.  I have started asking myself that question in other areas of my life too – Am I thankful?  More and more the answer is “yes,” and when it is not “yes,” then I am reminded I still have some work to do. 

In our lives, in our families, in our activities, in all that we do…

Are we grateful?