Overflowing with thankfulness.

There is a curious phrase for you.  How many of us feel like we are overflowing with thankfulness most of the time? So many people live their lives without much thankfulness at all, for anything. Yet if we have life, we have much for which to be thankful. Every day we are showered with gifts, blessings, supplies, strength, and wisdom. Every day we are benefits of protection, deliverance, and care, things we often call “good luck.” How much happier, how much healthier would we all be if we focused on these and stopped dwelling on what we perceive to be losses, set-backs, hurts, and slights. Even in these difficult things we can find blessings and gifts if we look for them.

Colossians 2:6-7 gives us sound advice: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

“Overflowing with thankfulness.” Think about that.  How great would it be for us if we were really living like this?  Even our most difficult circumstances can be opportunities for thankfulness, for through these circumstances we are being shaped into stronger people.  Our character is being strengthened.  But only if we see the circumstance as the opportunity.  Only if we can stop fighting them and begin to work with them, with thankfulness.  Gratitude puts us on the path of growth, the path of healing, the path to healthier minds and emotions.

We have so very much for which to be thankful. May this Thanksgiving season be overflowing with an attitude of gratitude, and may that extend throughout the year.