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Hello Joy Fam. Man has it been a MINUTE since we’ve talked. Sorry for the looooooong delay. Trying to get back into writing posts for the blog, staying on top of school, and working has been a struggle. I hope y’all will give Kaitlyn and me grace as we are still learning to manage this blog. ;)
Today I would like to talk about thankfulness. This is such an important quality for Christians to possess because it promotes happiness and others-centered thinking, as well as a new perspective on hard times. For this post, I’m going to focus on the first point- how thankfulness promotes happiness.
Lots of people talk about being thankful, but what does that mean? I believe that thankfulness is living life in service to God. Everything we have comes from Him, so we should thank Him for His goodness. But that’s not the only way we can practice thankfulness. We can express our thankfulness to the people we appreciate. We can also be thankful to God for those people. We can be thankful for anything or anyone, and we primarily express our thankfulness to God. Today, I’d like to outline the first of three reasons to encourage you to practice thankfulness.
Reason #1 - When you’re thankful, you complain less because you start to think more positively. Creating space for thankfulness doesn’t leave much room for negative thoughts. You can either be a thankful person or you can be a person who complains, but you can’t be both.
When I started intentionally thinking of the things I was thankful for, I realized that I felt so much happier. I’m not a naturally positive or thankful person, so it’s hard to be disciplined in thinking of the things I’m thankful for. But the joy I experience from practicing thankfulness far outweighs the difficulty of choosing positivity. God knows that thankfulness brings joy; I think that’s why He tells us in the Bible to be thankful. “Give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It is God’s will for us to be thankful. He wants us to have joy and realize all the wonderful gifts He has given us. Some of these gifts are the people around us. You can be thankful for the big things, but it’s also good to be thankful for the little, mundane things as well.
I saw a sign once that said, “It’s not happy people who are thankful, it’s thankful people who are happy”. That could not be more true. Ads and commercials tell you that you can buy happiness. Comparison tells you that if you only had her money, his looks, that job, a certain relationship status, an expensive house, or good grades, then you’d be happy. BUT IT’S A LIE! Happy people aren’t the ones who “have it all”: the looks, money, hot date, job, house, car, etc. In all reality, they don’t have it all, because they still feel empty. They’re looking for happiness but they won’t find it in those things. Happiness is found in being thankful. In choosing to say, “Yeah, I don’t have everything I want, but I don’t need it all. I am so thankful for the things I do have right now”. Pursuing happiness doesn’t cost any money and it starts right where you are.
The more you practice thankfulness now, the easier it is to be thankful in the future. Thankfulness, like many virtues, needs to be grown. It doesn’t magically appear and it takes work to develop. I wish working out weren’t necessary to be strong. Wouldn’t it be nice if simply thinking about being stronger made you strong? But, sadly, it doesn’t work that way. You need to do the work to grow stronger. It’s the same with thankfulness. Thankfulness is an attitude that you need to work at to develop. Just wishing you were more thankful isn’t going to do the trick. You need to decide to practice it. The bigger your muscle grows, the easier it is to use it.
This week, I encourage you to practice thinking of things you are thankful for and writing them down in a notebook or on your phone. If you sense that your heart needs a break from the Instagram scroll, take a break for a day or two and focus on the little things that make your life unique and special.
Next week, I will share a couple more tips on why to practice thankfulness in your everyday life.
Love, Kaela Joy
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