Joy of a Grateful Heart — Morning Devotions

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A few years ago, some well-known people all over the world took part in a magazine poll and were asked this question. Now, if you could be granted one wish that would come true right now, what would that one wish be?

There’s some very interesting responses as you’d expect, but one response impressed the editors of the magazine so much they wrote an article about it, and this was the response, I wish I could be given an even greater ability to appreciate all that I’ve already got.

Now I reckon that’s a great statement because there’s an underlying thought here that some of us don’t appreciate everything that we have at the time. That could be the problem with us, you know, we take too much for granted. I heard, for example, of a husband and wife couple, and they had a routine each night before going to sleep, and they’d share with each other three things for which they were grateful, and they used to call it doing our grateful. That’s a good thing to do, isn’t it? Another group of people were surveyed in 2003.

And they said they were grateful in life for things like the sunset through the clouds, the chance to be alive, and the generosity of friends.

Michelangelo said if you learn to appreciate much of what you’ve already got, you’ll find yourself having more to appreciate.

Yet others of us, we’re never grateful for what we have. The story is told of two friends who bumped into one another on the street one day, and one of them looked especially forlorn, almost on the verge of tears, and his friend asked him, What’s happened? What, what’s the world done to you that you should be so sad today? And his poor forlorn friend said, Well, let me tell you, 3 weeks ago my aunt died and left me $10,000. Well, he said, that’s a lot of money.

Yeah, but two weeks ago, a cousin that I never knew passed away left me $20,000 free and clear. Well, that sounds like you’ve been incredibly blessed. Well, he said, just hang on a minute. Last week I learned I inherited $100,000.

Now his friend was very confused. Well, why do you look glum? Well, he said, this week nothing.

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Michelangelo said if you learn to appreciate much of what you’ve already got, you’ll find yourself having more to appreciate.

So I guess that you could sit down and read the newspaper today, you can see the paper, I guess. What about the 2 billion people worldwide who can’t read?

That’s one of the small blessings that we enjoy today. Many of us eyesight. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote one of his, in one of his books, If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude and a feeling that nurtures the soul, to be filled with gratitude.

If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude and a feeling that nurtures the soul, to be filled with gratitude

That word appreciate, you know, we talk about it. It actually means to be thankful or to show gratitude in our very busy lives today. It’s easy to forget that many of the things that we have for are things that we should be grateful for, and if we’re worrying about issues in life, the problem can be that we become ungrateful people. And uh if we focus on our problems, they tend to increase, but if we focus on the good things we’ve got, you know, there’s a tendency to grow.

Uh, I know that when life is hard, expressing gratitude can be difficult. It can be a challenge. You don’t feel like it. When everything’s going well, it’s easy to take these things for granted, and in the process, we forget to thank God for all His blessings in our lives. There, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of reasons to be grateful. We can call that count our blessings. The Bible says, for example, in Psalm 92:1, it’s a good thing to give thanks and praise to the Lord.

Well, common sense tells us that to be continually thankful for our blessings can only make us happier, more optimistic about the circumstances of life. Now maybe today you’re so filled with worry that there’s no room for gratitude, and maybe you’re not feeling particularly blessed this day. Well, why don’t you try to see the gifts that God has already given you? Uh, maybe, uh, the pain in your life has got you to a point where you can’t see.

Any of these blessings, or perhaps you’ve been so blessed that even those blessings that you get don’t feel like blessings any more. Well, the Bible says this be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. And the Psalmist said, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. That’s Psalm 106:1. Thank you, Heavenly Father, today that we can have a grateful heart. You’ve given us a spirit, Lord.

To praise you and to thank you, I want to do that today as as grateful people.

Amen.

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