Giving Thanks [AUDIO]

If you can’t change your circumstances, change your attitude and make it an attitude of gratitude!

I can totally relate to that statement.  While in the grips of unemployment, a devastating divorce and a serious health condition, my focus was totally on the negative and not on the many blessings I was taking for granted.  Motivational author and speaker Brian Tracy put it this way: develop an attitude of gratitude and…most of all…give thanks!

It’s been proven---research affirms that gratitude is beneficial to your health.  The Bible says it best: “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by, prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”

So, what does it take to develop an ‘attitude of gratitude?’

Number 1.  Count your blessings,  Name them, list them, draw them, but count them.  To truly feel gratitude, you have to acknowledge your blessings!

Number 2.  Give thanks---show your attitude in word and deed.  William A. Ward said:“feeling attitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

Pastor Jeff Hayes, the organizer of one of the country’s biggest food giveaways for struggling families, says an attitude of gratitude is a powerful tool---especially when we’re experiencing tough times.  “I see people who have no jobs at the food giveaways.  Yet, they are grateful just to be able to share the food to others in need.”

Oprah Winfrey speaks often of the importance of a Gratitude Journal, in which at the end of each day, you record at least five things you're grateful for.

The bottom line is this:  gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to charity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,  a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a sense for tomorrow.