Attitude of Gratitude
How to Cultivate a Grateful Heart
Have you ever heard someone use the cliche, “attitude of gratitude?” Usually it shows up when someone is correcting us or those around us. “You don’t need what she has. Be grateful for what you have. Where is your attitude of gratitude?” Ugh.
When life is comin’ in hot, how can we possibly muster up gratitude?
I don’t know about you, but when November rolls around, I sometimes feel like a bull in the ring, blowing smoke out of my nostrils, and kicking up dust….readying myself to bust through the next two months of gatherings, events, shopping, and doing, doing, doing.
It’s exhausting just writing that. I would venture to say that many of us feel this way, if we are honest with ourselves.
It’s not shocking that our attitude would be like that of the bull, ready to charge!
Let’s look at the two main holidays we are about to celebrate. Thanksgiving. A holiday where we gather with family and friends to show our thankfulness for the bounty that has been given. A time to take stock, so to speak, on the blessings we have received, not only as children of God, but as citizens of a free nation. A time to show those around us that we love them…by sitting shoulder to shoulder watching a sporting event, or chatting over pumpkin pie.
And then Christmas. A holiday that has been taken over by commercialism, but is meant to be the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. A time to praise God and thank Him for sending the Messiah as a babe, to one day save each and every one of us from our sins and bring us to be with Him in eternity.
During the holidays, we have been given the opportunity to worship God and love His people.
We can be grateful for that gift.
Are we, though? Coming into the holiday season, do we have an attitude of gratitude? Or, are we getting ready to charge through it HEAD FIRST (not HEART first!) so we can just “make it through alive?” Be honest with yourself.
In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is. This is his reply:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We have been given an opportunity to:
-Love God.
-Love our neighbor.
During the holidays, we are handed a platform in order to live out the greatest of the commandments! What a gift! But, do we have an attitude of gratitude?
I’ll go first….I don’t. Many times, I go into this season with a dread of what is to come. And that mindset colors all I do and the encounters I have. What a shame.
A change needs to be made.
I want an attitude of gratitude!
Gratitude for the opportunity to do God’s will can fill my heart. I truly wish to worship Him for what He has done in my life. How great would it be to wake in the morning with a grateful heart and a yearning to love the people around me, especially the ones who are so very unlovable?
Will you join me?
Let’s do this! Let’s enter this holiday season with an attitude of gratitude!
In the comments below or on our Facebook or Instagram page, share with us how you will make that shift in your attitude. Let’s help each other…spur each other on, encourage each other to have an attitude of gratitude this season.
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