A few years back I noticed a theme. Every year around Thanksgiving we would do a study on gratitude. Inevitably I would hear something like this…

• We ought to be grateful all year long
• We are not nearly as grateful as we should be
• We need to try harder

Next year; same thing.

 

If I were honest, I’d have to say that I not only heard these things, I lived it. Every year I would be reminded that I need to be more grateful than I was.

 

This got me thinking and a few years back I tried something different. As I meditated on gratitude, I made some observations:

• Gratitude is Step One in coming to God. “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.” (Psalm 100.4)
• Gratitude is an activity as well and an attitude. We can’t directly control the attitude. We can directly control the activity.
• By regularly practicing a gratitude activity every day, we train our minds toward habitual thoughts of gratitude that leads to the habitual attitude of gratitude. I think this is what the Bible means by “train yourselves to be godly.” (1 Timothy 4.7)

With these observation in mind, I started the practice of thanking God for twenty things before I went to bed at night. I used my fingers and toes as reminders. With my left hand I would think of five family members I was thankful for; with my right hand I would think of five other people. I would try to savor and really think about how much I appreciate having these people in my life. Sometimes, I would imagine life without them. Then, I would think of five physical things (left toes) and five spiritual things (right toes) I was grateful for.

It didn’t happen in a day, but before long I began to notice something changing.... continue here https://www.smallgroupnetwork.com/blog/2020/11/17/leading-your-groups-to-habitual-gratitude/