GRATITUDE: YOUR LIFESTYLE? (Post 135)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22
Post 135
Gratitude: Is Giving Thanks Your Lifestyle?
Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day, and at last
we cannot break it.Horace Mann (American Educator, 1796-1859)
I was questioned about my lifestyle the other day … well not questioned – more like lectured. At a neighborhood store not long ago, standing more than six feet distant, I asked a clerk when a certain product might be delivered that week. He took a couple of steps toward me and I backed away. (He was unmasked.) He noticed my retreat and said something like, “Oh, you’re one of those.” To this, I replied, “You are not wearing a mask.” His response was immediate and quite direct, “Don’t let the mask control your life.” Of course, I retaliated, “It doesn’t.” This brief encounter sat in my mind all the way home and went far beyond the mask issue. What, if anything, controls my life?
Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.
Martin Vanbee
What does, indeed, control my life? In the midst of a pandemic-world and other issues, worries would be an honest answer. Still, another question came: what should control my life? Maybe it’s because we’re in the thanksgiving-month, a far different answer surfaced: gratitude. What would happen to the worries if gratitude became my kneejerk response to deep concerns? Certainly, it’s not about being grateful for troubles (and some may be quite severe); rather the point is to be open to developing gratitude in times of trouble as well as during times of less distress. How would life be different if gratitude became a lifestyle instead of only a response to obvious blessings?
I attend worship services (virtually) wherein it is common to hear thanks-giving prayers for being awakened by the Almighty that day and the air we breathe. It’s an automatic response of gratitude for that which they cannot see but for what is part of divine creation. Beautiful! Then too, it’s a wondrous blessing to hear recovery stories as folks describe that without their experiences from addiction – and recovery – their appreciation of and gratitude for new life would never have happened.
Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/content/recovery-program
What then are the nuts and bolts of gratitude? How can gratitude as a predominant factor affect our outlook? What difference does the habit of giving thanks (inwardly and outwardly) make? I turned to another aspect of life to help me find an answer. In speaking with persons about developing a hopeful mindset, I am grateful for Leighton Ford’s clear description of hope. (Hope-Holders: https://www.leightonfordministries.org/2015/02/10/hope-holders-2/ ) In fact, the therapeutic attitude of hope and gratitude are close first-cousins in recovery. Inspired by Ford, the following thus frames the attitude of gratitude to fit a recovering life – and beyond.
· GRATITUDE is undergirded by a strong and confident trust
· GRATITUDE deepens our longings, thus attaining new spiritual perspectives that trust our longings to divine wisdom
· GRATITUDE expands our horizons – the immediate takes on a larger framework
· GRATITUDE reinterprets our losses - to gain new perspectives and become open to new possibilities
· GRATITUDE binds the future to one’s personal faith
In closing, I want to share with you a special gift that I – and many others – received today. During worship, Dr. Donald Owens of Exodus United Methodist Church preached on Giving Thanks. Within the message, there were a good number of gold nuggets of wisdom about this very topic. May you be inspired to broaden your giving of thanks to incorporate a lifestyle of gratitude … you will be gratefully blessed!
From Reverend Dr. Donald Owens:
“This has been a difficult year and some people may be struggling with the idea of being thankful. The Covid-19 pandemic has reaped havoc on the lives of many and has affected everyone. Everyone has been touched by it in some way and yet I am here to remind Exodus and Friends of Exodus that we all have a reason to be thankful. It not just because we may not have gotten COVID 19 or recovered from it; not because we continued to have our job or found a new one if we lost employment due to the pandemic; not because we are still able to continue our lives despite everything that has happen. No, our being thankful goes deeper than just being thankful for overcoming difficult circumstances in our lives. What I am talking about this morning is the thankfulness that is reserved for God and Him alone… Giving thanks to God comes from a place within us where we remember where we could be without Him ..
Sometimes some of us misunderstand rejoicing and think it is to be done only when something good happens to us. The same is true for prayer. Some believe we should pray only when we need God to do something for us or for someone else. Now what I am about to say next will be a challenge for some who believe we should only give thanks for the blessing and not for hardships. This is where most people are today: ‘Why should I be thankful during hardships? That does not make sense to me.’ … [Rather] our willingness to give thanks is a testimony of what we know about God and His relationship with us. This understanding came through trials and a lot of errors. I am not perfect in my thanksgiving, but I have learned that it is not about God and what He is doing; it is about me and my response to Him in the midst of what He is doing.
Most of us have heard testimonies where people get up and talked about being thankful for things God had done for them. However, most of us have never heard someone get up and give a testimony about being thankful for things that God is going to do even though He has not done it yet. When we hear someone begin to thank and praise God for what He is going to do, then we know that person knows that nothing is impossible with God. They have learned and now live in faith expecting God to still be God!
It is difficult to be thankful when we are worried. It is difficult to feel blessed when we are worried. It is difficult to give God true praise when we are worried. It is difficult to remember and reflect on the things God has already done when we are worried. When we worry, we are focusing on the problem, not the answer. We are focusing on the failure, not the promise of victory. We are focusing on the giants, not the rock and the sling shot.
For every reason we can find to doubt and worry, we can find another reason to give thanks for things God has already done for us - and what He continues to do for us! … [The Psalmist] David says this is to be WHO WE ARE. This is to be our lifestyle!”
Blessings and Happy Thanks-Giving!
Rev. Janet Jacobs, CCGSO
Founding Director
Gambling Recovery Ministries
855-926-0761
For more information on the IGCCB Clergy/Lay Minister Certification visit:
From IGCCB’s Resources for Coping with COVID 19:
https://personcenteredtech.com/tmh/clients (Online therapy preparation for clients)
https://gambling.easywebinar.live/replay (Jody Bechtold telehealth webinar)
https://youtu.be/dYUEjIFtT8E (Jody Bechtold telehealth webinar)
For more information on gambling disorder and recovery issues, go to:
www.indianaproblemgambling.org