Gratitude is Key
World Gratitude Day
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more things you will have to express gratitude for.” - Zig Ziglar
Many years ago, as we trusted God to move us out of a residence to a more conducive place, I learnt the importance of gratitude. I had grown so dis-satisfied and uncomfortable with our residence and it dawned on me that I should be grateful for that accommodation. I began to thank God for the place; I went further to make an effort to beautify the place and increasingly grew to appreciate God for where I was. Not long after that, the Lord provided a larger, more suitable residence. I learnt the lesson. Gratitude is key to get to your next new level.
"Nothing new can come into your life unless you are grateful for what you already have." - Michael Bernard
As the world marks today as the World Gratitude Day, I took time to think of all I am grateful for… I am grateful for my life, my salvation, my childhood experiences, my young adult experiences, my life’s journey, the highs and the lows, the deepest valleys and the highest mountains, the deprivations and the times of abundance, the sicknesses and the divine healings, the pains and the gains, the disappointments from humans and the faithfulness of God.
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings." - William Arthur Ward
The hymn says, count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. This hymn gets me and makes me cry. I try to count my blessings and I get blown away about how much God's got my back. But for God, I would have long been forgotten at worst or disgraced and put to shame, to say the least. Thank you, my Almighty Father!
Dear reader, perhaps there are many things you wish were different in your life; true, we all have one unaccomplished desire or the other but I encourage you today to make a list of all you are grateful for and you will soon be singing songs of praises. Gratitude leads to thanksgiving and thanksgiving brings the presence of God. We will not always have everything we ever wished for; true. However, we must intentionally and deliberately give thanks for every blessing. We must learn to see the blessing in mundane things and even seemingly difficult situations. Some people even advice that everyone should keep a Gratitude Journal; it works! Try to keep a journal where you document everything you are grateful for. You will never be the same again.
“The longer you linger in gratitude, the more you draw your new life to you. For gratitude is the ultimate state of receivership.”
- Dr Joe Dispenza
Happy Gratitude Day!
Olayinka Hephzibah Ekenkwo
