I am currently sitting in the airport waiting to fly home after being able to help fulfil one of our son Isaac’s dreams of visiting Australia zoo. It was so much fun watching him be totally overcome with happiness throughout the day.
Today, however, I was also reminded by my husband, Philip, of how important it is to strike a balance in life. A balance between having a bucket list of all that we want to do and be and seeking to achieve and experience everything on them, and gratitude.
Philip explained that bucket lists are great, but that part of the fun of life also has a reverse bucket list where we take time to be grateful for all that we have achieved, experienced, and loved already.
This gratitude list brings balance and helps us not only look to the future and believe for new things and what God wants to do in our lives now but also to pause, be grateful and give thanks for all the things we have experienced and are enjoying in life already.
Some keys to practising gratitude are to:
1.Talk and think about good things: Instead of complaining or getting depressed about the things you don’t have happening in your life, recount all that has happened and you have enjoyed or experienced up until now. It’s amazing what you can forget, but it will soon change your focus from grumbling to appreciation and from negativity to hope.
2. Start a journal, list or gratitude jar: Note 3-5 things you are grateful for daily, write them down, and give thanks as you do. By the end of the month or, if you keep at it, the year, you might be amazed at how great your life actually is when seen through the perspective of gratitude.
Gratefulness to God for who He is and what He has done for us are all expressions that send a message to God that resonates with who He is. As you focus on the future with gratitude for God’s hand on your life thus far, it will fuel your faith and expectancy for God’s favour to be displayed in your life and upon all those around you.
As you express your gratitude, you become more aware of God’s presence and look for him to continue moving in your life. And when that happens, anything is possible! (Psalm 100:4)
Today, focus on the many good things God has provided and done for you already, -whilst also looking to the future with the expectation that God will do more. As the Psalms say, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1)
“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14)
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4)
Prayer: Lord, please help me have an attitude of gratitude for all that I have experienced. Today I want to thank you for all you have done and how much you love me. In Jesus Name Amen.
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