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“In everything give thanks”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a sure way to elevate yourself from the realms of people who only experience good things happening to them once in a while to someone who others consider as lucky or fortunate because good things are always happening to you. Consider this gratitude quote:

“the more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for”

Norman Vincent Peale

Gratitude likes to spread, it likes to replicate and recreate. When you begin to exercise being thankful, you will begin to see and experience more opportunities to be thankful.

The following gratitude story is told in Luke 17:12-19:

As Jesus was going into a village, ten men came towards him. The ten men had leprosy so they stood at a distance, as they understood the law forbidding them to have contact with people who did not have the disease. So they shouted, ‘Jesus, Master, please be kind to us.’ Jesus saw them and said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ because to be re-integrated into society, the men would need a clean bill of health from the priests. While they were going on their way, they became well again. One of these ten men understood that Jesus had made him well. So he turned back and he praised God in a loud voice. He went down on his knees in front of Jesus and thanked him. Then Jesus said, ‘Ten men were healed; where are the other nine? But only this one man came back to thank God. So Jesus spoke to the man. ‘Stand up and go on your way. You believed in me, so now you are really well.’

This story highlights that ten men went through the self same experience, but only one had an awareness of mind to be thankful. Practice being thankful independent of your circumstances. It is indeed easier to be thankful in some situations than others, but practice finding the silver lining even in unfavourable situations. There is real benefit in seeing a glass half full instead of half empty, it helps you to be thankful for what you do have instead of focusing on what is missing. Whatever is missing is an opportunity for gratitude to spread, so when you cultivate an attitude of gratitude, your glass will undoubtedly soon be full and running over.