Gratitude Is... A Wonderful Way to Live and Enjoy Life
Daniella Whyte Bestselling Author of 365 Days of Thanking God
Gratitude Is... A Wonderful Way to Live and Enjoy Life by Daniella Whyte Cover Design by Atinad Designs. Š Copyright 2014 TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except for brief quotations included in a review of the book. All Bible quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Contents
Introduction – This Thing Called Gratitude 1. Gratitude Is... Joy 2. Gratitude Is... Contentment 3. Gratitude Is... A Choice 4. Gratitude Is... Freedom 5. Gratitude Is... Peace 6. Gratitude Is... Appreciation for the Small Stuff 7. Gratitude Is... Giving and Service
GRATITUDE IS... Gratitude is the open door to abundance. -Anonymous
Introduction This Thing Called Gratitude For the past year, I have been on an intentional journey of discovering what gratitude is. From a previous book that I compiled and edited two years ago, I have carefully looked at Scripture, research, articles, and quotes about what gratitude is, what it means to be grateful, and the effects it has on and in our lives when we choose it. While gratitude is many things, I have discovered that gratitude is much more than an idea, much more than a feeling, and much more than a simple thank you. It is a way of life that does not often come naturally, but can be developed, cultivated, and nurtured on a daily basis. This journey has been much more than just a study of Bible verses or a research project. For me, this journey is a personal journey -- one that I am still on. As in most journeys that lead to a fruitful place, this uphill climb is not easy. From time to time, God, in His grace and mercy, will show me things that are not right in my heart, responses to situations
that are less than reflective of a grateful attitude, and thoughts that are not up to the standards I encourage others to live by. This process is very much needed in my life. And I am grateful that God uses people and situations to bring me out of my own finite perspective into a perspective that is more beautiful and beneficial than I could ever imagine. Many people have already proven that no experience in life, whether outward or inward, good or bad, is ever wasted if we learn from it and strive to make the changes. There is a reason that the Bible is replete with admonitions and commands to be grateful. Gratitude is an often overlooked virtue, but it is not an overlooked biblical principle. God warrants appreciation and doing so draws us closer to Him and allows us to experience certain inner and outer blessings that we may not otherwise experience. Gratitude is very close to grace and grace is very close to the heart of God. We are all living because of grace, and God, in all His glory and power, wants us to feel gratitude in our hearts in such a way that it forces us to express it at any given time.
Gratitude Is... is an opportunity for you to discover the things I discovered about gratitude. It is an invitation to join me on this journey of developing a lifestyle of gratitude and experiencing the joy and freedom that such a lifestyle brings. Gratitude brings more than just a new attitude to situations, it brings a new heart, a new mind, and a new outlook on life. While gratitude brings many blessings, both seen and unseen, if I am not careful, I can fall back into ingratitude. I can start focusing on what is going wrong instead of what is going right, what I don't have instead of what I do have. A lack of gratitude pulls us into doubt, fear, depression, worry, bitterness, frustration, selfishness and complaining. All of these things tear at our lives and keep us confined to a dangerous cycle of negative thoughts and behaviors that hinder us from making progress and living the abundant life that is ours to live. Choosing gratitude saves us from all these feelings. It holds us back from falling into these attitudes that our human nature pulls us to – attitudes of entitlement, pride, and greed. Gratitude causes us to see the best even in the worst
situations. It gives us joy for the journey, contentment beyond measure, and a wonderful perspective on life. It is easy to say with our mouth, I'm going to be grateful, but it is a consistent, mindful, heartfelt decision that actually causes us to live life in a grateful manner. In Gratitude Is... you will find that gratitude is joy, contentment, peace, freedom, and a host of other things that are too numerous to name. Gratitude is... also a wonderful way of life that requires us to make a daily choice that not only benefits us, but also can inspire the people around us to experience gratitude in their own lives. As we will see in the pages of this book, gratitude is not just something we do; it offers us something in return. It changes our lives, our minds, and our perspectives if we let it. Firmly planted in God's grace, gratitude changes our response to everything in life. Even when things are not the best, gratitude beckons us to sing "it is well, it is well with my soul." So join me as we embark on an adventure of discovering what Gratitude Is. I hope that this journey will help you to
experience all of the benefits that gratitude has to offer and will draw you closer to living the wonderful life that we all have an opportunity to live.
ON GRATITUDE AND JOY Joy is a spiritual way of engaging with the world that's connected to practicing gratitude. -Brene` Brown
Gratitude Is... JOY The people who are truly grateful are those who are joyful in every situation. Real joy does not depend upon whether or not something good happens or something bad happens. It is instead a deep-seeded internal satisfaction and peace in whatever situation one is in. Too often, we equate joy with material things or having certain abilities and gifts that are superb. At other times, we equate joy with a certain feeling. For example, if the sun is shining and everything is going perfect for us, then we feel joyful. But if it's raining and everything is seemingly not going our way, then our joy is suddenly gone. We think of joy as a transitory object or an interchangeable piece of clothing, something to be worn at certain times and not at other times. Real joy, however, is neither transitory or tied to externalities. It does not come only when we feel like it. Real joy for a person of gratitude is ever present, and does not leave based on the ups and downs of life. People who choose gratitude also choose joy. It is impossible to be
grateful and not be joyful. Researchers and psychologists have long touted the effects of gratitude. For example, gratitude reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. Gratitude helps people to be able to bounce back from traumatic experiences in life. Being grateful improves health, increases sleep quality, reduces negative feelings, makes us happier, and deepens our relationships. Overall, grateful people have an outlook on life, work, family, and everyday tasks that is much brighter than those who don't show gratitude. People who are grateful are also able to keep things longer, improve relationships faster, and attract more of the good things they want and need in life. I would contend that people who express gratitude often find themselves in favorable situations and when they are not, they have a reasonable view of it and are able to accept it, deal with it, and still live life. Joy is not based on the circumstances. It is based on a choice. Gratitude is the same way. It is not based on circumstances. It is based on a choice. Gratitude is joy because it is an act of worship, praise, and
an expression of appreciation. Joy inside of us shines through us at any point in life. Some people have this rosy, skip through the tulips, very unrealistic view of life. This view often brings with it problems and unfortunate situations that can be overwhelming to deal with. Trying to live an unrealistic, fairytale life in a very realistic, harsh world opens the door for disappointment and failure. Thus, one is always in a cycle of being happy and sad, up and down. People have this unrealistic view of gratitude too. If everything is going our way just perfectly, then we are thankful for that moment. But the very second our plans are interrupted or we're stuck in traffic and five minutes late for work, we start grumbling and complaining. In these moments when our joy has seemingly evaporated, we fail to remember the many days when things went well and the millions of other blessings we have experienced even though we don't deserve them. The joy of gratitude requires a shift in our perception of reality. The drama of life can cloud our view of what is really going on, causing us to focus on things that are of little to no importance. Instead of focusing on the drama and negativity of life, we can choose to view life from the perspective of joy
regardless of our reality. Joy is a mirror by which gratitude is reflected. When we choose joy in our present reality, we choose to leave behind what we wish or what we want in order to appreciate what is. True joy is not here today and gone tomorrow; it is a deep-seeded expression that grows out of a heart of gratitude, grace, and goodness. This is part of the essence of life – “singing and making melody in our hearts with thanksgiving.” It is impossible to have gratitude without joy and likewise joy without gratitude. When we are grateful, we will find joy in the small things; and when we are joyful, we will find a reason to be grateful. Brennan Manning said, “We're not joyful and then become grateful; we're grateful and that makes us joyful.” Joy, a byproduct of gratitude, causes us to do things that show how thankful we are. It opens up our heart to love and the goodness of life. When and how we express thankfulness becomes very important because it is tied to our level of joy. Like two sides of a coin, we can choose joy or sadness, grumbling or gratitude. Expressing gratitude helps us to understand that every little thing is a blessing. When we express thanks to others, we extend our own blessings in life to them, and we experience joy in return.
Gratitude is joy because it helps us to put life in perspective. Without a proper perspective, we can become focused on what we don't have, while failing to realize what we do have. When we put life in perspective, we allow our minds and hearts to focus on the things that are really important. We must let go of the anxiety that comes with trying to get more, the rush to constantly add to what we have because someone else seems to have more. Embrace the fact that what you have right now, whatever it is, is enough—more than enough. We find joy in being grateful at every moment of life. Think of how sad life would be if we only could be joyful in good times. Most of the time for whatever reason, life does not go as we plan. It is during these times that we grow and mature by making choices to accept what is and be grateful for it. The Bible says in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Jesus is effectively saying here that in spite of all the problems and hardships we will inevitably face in life, we can still have joy because real joy is not
based on the tribulation in the world, it is based on the overcoming victory and power we have in Jesus Christ. John 16:33 is a forewarning that the world is not a perfect place. Everything is not going to go our way all of the time. Sometimes, we will be disappointed, experience loss, be forced to deal with tragedy, and come to the end of our rope and wonder when our troubles will be over. John 16:33 is an affirmation that Jesus will be with us in the midst of every storm in life. It is an open invitation that trouble is and will be a part of our everyday existence. Everything we don't want to happen, sometimes will. But beyond that, it is also a message of comfort that everything will be alright. Everything we have experienced, God has given us strength to overcome because Christ already overcame it on the cross. Every loss, every heartbreak, every hurt feeling, every doubt, every difficult situation – Jesus Christ already dealt with it on the cross. He took our past, present, and future upon His shoulders and got the victory for us when He stretched out His arms and died for us. We can have joy because Christ overcame on our behalf. We can be grateful because joy begets gratitude and gratitude begets joy.
ON GRATITUDE AND CONTENTMENT Never let the things you want, make you forget the things you have. If you are truly rich, count the number of things that you have that money can't buy. -Anonymous
Gratitude Is... Contentment We don't have to look far to realize that the world we live in is a very discontented place. We see this in the amount of money people spend each year to change themselves physically, the personal image many fight to uphold, all of the material things, money, and power that is obtained by any means. Our culture, society, and media play into the hands of an increasing number of people who just want more. The push to gain what is better, faster, bigger, prettier causes us to move further toward the proverbial slough of despond and despair than we ever imagined. It is very sad, but collectively, we are never satisfied. Restaurants must always come up with some new combination of foods to keep people coming back. Malls and clothing stores must always have something on sale to keep throngs of people rushing through their doors. New movies will never cease to be created, new books will never cease to be written, and new music will never cease to be produced simply to satiate the appetites of people who are just not content to watch, read, or hear the same old thing. Religion
and church life has even become a mock-up of society. Some in the religious sector have become so passive and so culture-dependent that the minister must look like a celebrity, the music must be connected to the secular pop genre, and the sermon must be relevant to the twenty-first century and only preached for forty minutes in order to keep people interested in church, much less attending services. Now, I'm not saying that any of what I just mentioned is wrong, but we should not use these things to fuel our contentment. Contentment has become such a forgotten way to live that we don't even realize how discontented we really are. We've pushed and fought for all of this stuff and all of this freedom, and still, we have come up short. All of our stuff has put us in bondage, making us slaves to our own discontented minds. And the only way we seem to think we can get out of it is by seeking more of the same. Discontentment can be thought of as the mother of all sins. We don't do things we should and do things that we shouldn't simply because we are not satisfied with who we are, where we are, and what we are doing.
When I think of discontentment, I think of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had been so good to them. He gave them the honor of being the first two people He ever created, the mother and father of all mankind. He put them in a beautifully furnished Garden. All they could ever need or want was at their disposal. They had not a care or worry in the world. Their day job was quite simple: tend the Garden, take care of the animals, and be the good creatures God had made them to be. As is often the case, privileges are accompanied with responsibilities and rules. God had given them permission to eat off of every tree in the Garden except one. Now, I know you're probably thinking, “how perfect their situation was.� With all the trouble in the world today, most of us would die to have our own perfect Garden of Eden with everything we could ever want or need right there at our disposal. Never having to cook, clean, shop, or do any of the daily mundane tasks we do now would be a Heavenly vacation. But Adam and Eve, and obviously, the evil one, didn't see it that way.
When Satan entered the Garden on that fateful day thousands of years ago, he was armed with the spirit of deception, the spirit of disobedience, and the spirit of discontentment. Satan, who was already unhappy with how things were going in Heaven sought to disrupt things on earth. You see, Satan was the overseer of God's throne; He hovered over the throne of God and was also partly responsible for making the melodious musical sounds that bellowed from the Heavenly choir. When he became discontent with where God had put him and who he was made to be, he sought to be like God. Of course, God was not going to have such a thing in Heaven so He kicked Satan out. Satan's discontent, his unhappiness with his place and position in life, and his pride caused him to be destroyed. So now the devil who has been cast to earth seeks to spread his spirit of discontentment to God's other creatures. His first victim was Eve and Adam followed soon after. He sashayed himself into the Garden and dropped the spirit of discontentment on Eve with his succinct, sultry words. Eve, now not content to eat from the thousands of other trees in the Garden, fed into the devil's lies, and ate from the one tree that God had forbidden them to eat from. The curse of
discontentment started then and it has remained throughout society to this day. The voice of discontentment still speaks loudly. It echoes throughout generations. It is the basis of rebellion, pride, disobedience, sadness, and depression. It is a nasty beast that invisibly walks among us. Although we cannot see it, it is like the big elephant in the room. It is the antithesis of gratitude. We often don't realize how much we have lost by trying to gain more. Money, power, and material things have torn away layers of people's lives, destroyed vital relationships, and stolen peace and joy. It has taken away what we already have and given us nothing to replace it, except a wild circular chase in pursuit of some thing that will end up leaving us empty and unfulfilled. Gratitude replaces discontentment because it opens up our eyes to see that what we have and are thankful for now is greater than what we cannot see. In a strange way, gratitude strips us of our attitude of entitlement and causes us to realize that we are not as great as we think we are. It shows us that what we do have is really all a gift given to us by our merciful Creator, and not a result of any fine
achievement or ingenuity of our own. Gratitude is contentment. It is a state of happiness and satisfaction in life and with life. It delivers us from developing an apathetic attitude and causes us to appreciate everything we are given and every situation we find ourselves in. When we begin to express gratitude for every little thing in life, we have begun to experience contentment. The point of life is not to land at death's door safely having been on a years long pursuit of people, plaudits, prosperity, and promotions. We will never fill our inner void with outer things. The point of life is to live each day in such a way that our contentment results in peace, love, and joy. Contentment allows us to understand where we are, and even if it's not the best of situations, we would and should still be thankful for it. Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.� Contentment is never based on stuff or people. It can never be about such things because
stuff can easily be lost, stolen, or destroyed; and people can be taken from us through death or sickness and some will simply walk out of our lives. Real contentment is about having the inner peace and satisfaction that where we are, what we have, and who we are at this very moment are the perfect conditions for us right now. Contentment, I think, is the apex of life. It is where everything collides—past, present, and future. We learn contentment when we are able to learn from our past but not allow it to hold us hostage; live in our present but not allow it to be defined by temporary situations; and anticipate our future and not be shocked when it arrives. How high we go in life is not defined by how much money we make, how big our house is, or how many friends we have. How high we go or don't go is often defined by our level of contentment. Have we reached capacity? Have we allowed ourselves to get to a point where we are grateful for everything and content with everything? There can be no real gratitude without contentment. Contentment is a discipline that must be learned. Strangely, we don't have to teach discontentment and dissatisfaction.
We already know how to whine, complain, and voice our differences over things we don't like or want. But contentment, like any other virtue, must be learned. The path toward contentment is not easy for there are many people and situations that can cause us to be just the opposite. We have to put our minds in a contented state. In other words, we have to choose it. We have to purposely make it a part of our lives. Contentment is a habit that must be formed and can soon become our second nature if we allow it. This means that wherever or whatever we find ourselves in, we have learned, chosen, and disciplined our minds to be content. The less we pursue stuff, the more time and energy we have to express gratitude for what we have. Take a moment to realize what you have right now. Take a few minutes to contemplate your situation, whether good or bad. The more satisfied we choose to be with what we have, the more we will realize how much we actually have. Our discontentment diminishes the good things we already have and causes us to see difficult situations as worse than what they really are. A person who is content is a person who is grateful.
Contentment will produce gratitude. I have never met a grateful person who was not content or a contented person who was not grateful. From Philippians 4:12, we see that Paul had learned how to be content in whatever situation he found himself in and he learned how to show gratitude in that situation. Paul endured many trials as a follower of Christ, but he did not complain. He learned the lesson that needed to be learned, did what needed to be done, went through what he needed to go through, preached where he needed to preach even if it was hard. His contentment in every situation gave him the ability to press on during the bad times and to walk humbly through the good times. It is often hard for some people to appreciate the good times in life because they are too concerned that it will end. The point of life is to be satisfied in the bad times because they don't last forever and to be satisfied in the good times because they don't last forever either. As Job asked, “Should we accept good from God and not also accept bad?� We become balanced individuals when we learn the discipline of contentment—finding satisfaction in every situation. Contentment, in the truest sense, not only breeds gratitude,
but it breeds joy. If there is always something to be thankful for, there is always something to be happy about. Every moment of our lives is a cause for joy. Mick Ukleja said, "Gratitude lifts us above our own demands and becomes the best antidote to that haunting feeling of discontent. It broadens our peripheral vision so that we take delight in the gifts surrounding us." Happiness on the outside is nothing compared to deep joy and contentment on the inside. The latter is what we really want to have in life. Being content with what we have now brings immediate joy and peace. It also opens up the door to experience more of what we want and gain more of what we need. We will be as grateful as we are content and we will be as content as much as we are grateful. Gratitude is the surest pathway to contentment. If we choose to find and live in the place of contentment, we can enjoy the joyous journey of gratitude. It is a lifelong experience that pushes us in the direction of fulfillment, hope, and joy.
ON GRATITUDE AND CHOICE
Being grateful, practicing gratitude, will benefit your life if you want it to and let it. That’s your choice at any moment. It’s either gratitude or resentment -anger or happiness -- pleasure or disdain. One choice builds you up; it’s constructive, positive, healthy. The other weakens you; it’s destructive and negative. -Michael Feeley
Gratitude Is... A Choice Most everything we do in life is preceded by a series of choices. The ability to choose is unique to humanity. It is the transformational process of life that effects change and is the only element by which our direction is controlled. Anything worthwhile requires a decision, a choice that we must make in order to progress. For the peaceful person, choices run parallel to actions. If we choose well, more than likely, we will act well and the outcome will be good. If we choose wrongly, we will act wrongly and the outcome will match that choice. The story is told of a young boy who had been abandoned by his parents. After moving from foster home to foster home an elderly couple took him in when he was twelve-years-old and raised him as their own child. He was fairly good, got into very little trouble, did well in school, and graduated from high school a year early. His adoptive parents put him through college and proudly watched him graduate at the top of his law school class. By twenty-eight, he had his own law firm in New York City, got married, became a father, and
was the picture of success. However, after a series of poor choices, financial mismanagement, and corporate neglect, he filed for bankruptcy at thirty-six years old. He lost nearly everything he had worked so hard for. To go along with his career failure, his wife was ready to file for divorce, and his only child had been diagnosed with leukemia. One day, he decided to go back home to see his adoptive parents and to bemoan his terrible situation. As he turned the corner to enter the driveway, his father was already standing outside, and instantly knew there was a problem. Later that evening, the bankrupt lawyer complained to his parents that he had lost everything including hope, and he was no longer happy in life. His father asked, 'weren't you happy when you had it all?' The man said, 'Yes, very much so.' The father then replied, 'Well, happiness is a choice. We may not always have stuff, but we can always have happiness if we choose it.' Gratitude, like happiness, is a choice. We may not always have stuff, but we can always choose to be grateful. It is
often easy to focus on what we do not have, what we have lost, or even on what other people have that we wish we had. A heart of gratitude, however, does not focus on what it does not have or on what it perceives it does not have. It does not look at what other people have and wish it were theirs either. Ultimately, the happy person knows that gratitude is a choice, not based on the material things we have or based on the good times we experience. Viktor Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” God has given each of us the ability to choose our response to all circumstances. The choice to be grateful is always present before us. In every situation, whether good or bad, we are given the ability to choose how we respond. Choosing to be grateful involves not only our actions, but our reactions to other people and situations. It is easier to base our life on the immediate situation, but it is never better. Many times, we don't see things work out because our reaction is wrong, our perspective is distorted, and our thoughts are negative instead of positive.
We use just as much energy to respond negatively to difficult situations as we would use if we responded positively. Everybody can be happy when things are wonderful, but it takes a conscious decision to choose happiness in times that are not so favorable. The power we have and the ability we have to choose never changes, therefore, our ability to be grateful should never change. Gratitude is for all times. There are no higher levels of gratitude in good times and lower levels in other times. The choice to be grateful is ours to make each day at all times. We make choices that correlate with our thought pattern. Most of us, if we are in our right mind, we think rationally and act accordingly. The people who express the most gratitude are those who choose to accept every situation as it is. We find humble peace in knowing that we have more of the good things we want by being thankful for whatever we have. If we choose to think of our situation in positive terms, by finding the good in everything, we will find ourselves choosing to be thankful right where we are, for whom we have in our lives, and what we are doing.
Choice is a powerful tool in the arsenal of humanity. It is a mighty weapon on the battlefield of life. Our survival and success in the world hinges upon the choices we make each and everyday. Perhaps, we went to an exotic island for three weeks and everything was absolutely perfect – you had money, good food, a beautiful place to stay, and all the amenities you needed at your disposal. Seemingly, when you're in this wonderful place, you have no problems to solve, conflicts to resolve, bills to pay, or broken relationships to fix. This place is peaceful and you are grateful for the tranquility that calms your soul. Now, let's say you're back at home. You don't necessarily have everything you need. Seemingly, when you're at home, problems come out of nowhere all the time, the house must be cleaned, children must be dressed each morning and taken to school, bills are high, money is low, life is hectic, and you have to make a mad dash every morning to a job you don't particularly like. In contrast to the peaceful exotic island we were in a minute ago, this place called home is noisy and dysfunctional and you are not particularly happy or
grateful. Was it the place that made you happy and grateful or was it your state of mind in the place that determined this for you? The choices we make change when our thoughts change. Perhaps, the peaceful, happy, grateful person on the exotic island could be the same peaceful, happy, grateful person in the noisy, busy house. The choice to be grateful is not based on location or situation, instead, it's based on our minds and how we choose to think about our location or our situation. If we choose to embody gratitude it does not matter whether our situation is good or bad. We can make the choice to make a right decision in a bad situation. Sometimes, we fail to choose gratitude. Oftentimes, our situations are not ideal. We may think others have it better than we do. In truth, that's not the case, but we think it is. Getting more stuff or going more places will never make us grateful, just like those things can never make us happy. When we fail to choose gratitude, we forfeit the life of joy and peace that is available to all of us. This is the life God has created for us to live. If we don't choose gratitude, we will, by default, choose ingratitude. We can be as grateful as we
make up our minds to be. The story is told of a man who gave his two sons each a bucket of sand that contained small iron pieces. After sifting their hands through the sand for a while, one boy began to complain that he wasn't finding anything. The other boy, however, ran off and found a square magnet. When he returned, he began to drag the magnet through the sand and the small iron pieces attached themselves to it. While the little boy who complained found nothing at all, the little boy with the magnet found more than he needed. You see, there is a mighty difference between grumbling and gratitude. When we choose to grumble and complain, we forfeit blessings that would otherwise come our way. We distance the many good things and sometimes, even good people, that could come into our lives because we choose grumbling over gratitude. When we choose gratitude, however, not only do we find blessings, but strangely, blessings find us. As the story shows, we can be murmurers or we can be magnets. We can choose to look at the bright side or the
dark side of every situation. If we sift through the sand of life, complaining that we can't find anything or we can't do anything, then we will get exactly what the first boy got — nothing. But if we choose to be grateful for the sand we have in life, we will find a way to get those iron pieces. We will not only find blessings as the second boy did, but blessings will find us. Often when we're not looking for something, our gratitude for everything we already have will bring blessings in our direction. The Bible tells the story of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:16-34. Paul and Silas were preaching the Gospel of Christ in Philippi, but some of the government leaders did not like it, and so they threw them in prison. Now, most of us, if we are honest, would admit that if we were thrown into prison for no fault of our own, we would be upset, angry, grumbling and complaining before we even arrived at the prison. The book of Acts tells us, however, that Paul and Silas did none of these things. Sure, in their human mind, they knew they were innocent and perhaps, were disappointed that their plans were interrupted. But they did not grumble or complain about their current unfortunate state.
Do you know what they did? They chose to express gratitude. They began to sing and praise God. Acts 16:25 says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Their attitude was one of gratefulness, not because they wanted to be in that situation, but because they chose to be content in whatever state they were in. They chose to put their minds outside of their jail cells and above their present predicament. What they were going through did not determine their level of gratitude or contentment. No matter where we find ourselves or what situation we are in, we can make the choice to be grateful. The more we are grateful for our situation as it is, the faster the door will open for our situation to get better. Acts 16:26 says, “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Paul and Silas were freed not because they fought for it, but because they made a decision to praise God in the good times and in the bad times. Gratitude opens up opportunities for good things to come into our lives.
The more appreciative we are of our place in life, the money we have, the house we live in, the job we have right now, at this very moment, the more we are able to walk on the pathway to real abundance and joy. Our life is dictated by the choices we make. We create the life we want to live by our daily decisions. Gratitude does not come automatically, it must be a conscious decision. We have to purposely express thankfulness for the sunshine and the rain, the good and the bad, the big and the small, and everything else in between. We all can appreciate life more if we make a strong decision to show gratitude at every opportunity.
ON GRATITUDE AND FREEDOM Where there is gratitude, there must also be freedom... Gratitude is the key which unlocks the door for freedom’s expression. -Daniel C. Potts
Gratitude Is... Freedom What do you think about when you hear the word freedom? It reminds me of openness, flexibility, breathing space. It also brings to mind the wonderful ability we all have to create, dream, give, and serve. Nothing in the world is sweeter and more delightful than true freedom. The more freedom we have or are able to get, the more we want of it. It is the thing that millions of people all around the world live, fight, and die for. Along with safety, love, and belonging, freedom is one of the basic needs that psychologists tell us are inherent in the lives of all people. We as human beings have an inner desire to live outside of confinement and bondage, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. We have the ability to think outside of our environment and to act better than what we know. This is freedom. Gratitude has a freeing effect on our minds, souls, and spirits as well. When we are complaining all the time, we feel a kind of sadness or depression in our lives. On the other
hand, when gratitude is the foundation of our lives, we open the door to a world of opportunities and innumerable blessings to come our way. When we express gratitude, we experience a kind of freedom. If we allow ourselves to become self-absorbed, we will always be bound by our present circumstances. People who are bound in this way cannot see the good that can come out of bad situations, or even the stars that shine brightest when it is dark. Sadly, much of the world is bound by superfluities and vanity, by pretty shells that have no solid core. Only wanting to live from thrill to thrill and wishing for everything to come to us easily, does not help us to experience a balanced life. Complaining often compounds our problems and binds us to our own short-sighted, finite thinking that we are entitled to anything at all in life. Nothing buries us more than ingratitude. One way to experience freedom is to accept truth. Sadly, much of what we see in the world is built upon lies. From media to government to schools and to families, a culture of lying and dishonesty has taken root in our society. We have lost our moral selves and have suffered a great deal for
succumbing to deception. Dishonesty is the antithesis of freedom. Without honesty, we have nothing left, nothing at all with which to believe, to dream, to learn, to hope for, or to do what matters in life. It is the inevitable, proverbial prison without bars. Held hostage by the untruths we choose to believe, we erase gratitude. The truth sets us free. Jesus said as much in John 8:32, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.� The truth sets us free from ourselves, from our own negative thoughts and feelings, and from self-conceit, pride, discontent, and ingratitude. We can choose to open our minds to receive the good and positive things that are available to us. We can be thankful for truth that sets us free, unlocks doors that have been chained by bitterness and frustration, and gives us inner peace and joy. Ingratitude itself is a prison that holds us back from experiencing and expressing gratitude. Many times, we feel a sense of entitlement to the things we have or think we should have. When we lose what we have or never get what we want, we begin to feel anger or frustration, and thus, feel a right to complain. Freedom is the absence of constraint in
choice or action. There is nothing at all that can hold us back from expressing gratitude in life unless we allow it. We can choose at any point, in any place, at any time, and anywhere to live in appreciation, and we have the freedom to do so. The more free we are, the more we have to be grateful for. It is necessary for our own well-being that we do not constrain ourselves in being grateful for all that we have and are able to do in this life. Gratitude is freedom because in this life, we all are given the opportunity to do great things. We were not created as robots, moving at the command of another person. Many talents and gifts exist among humanity that are too numerous to name and too complicated to describe here. No two people are the same; and no one can do the same thing exactly the same way someone else can do it. We are the same in physicality, yet different in every other way. With all of our colors and combinations, we are free to express ourselves in a multiplicity of ways. God has never created any duplicates and yet God loves us all the same, unequivocally, unconditionally, and unapologetically. What makes us special as individuals is our differences, our diversity, and how we can and should love one another, help
one another, and inspire one another. We should be grateful for our differences and freedom allows us to be that way. The story is told of a young boy who was trained by a tribal elder. The boy went away for a few days, and on his way back to the community, he filled up a leather canteen with water as a token of his appreciation to the elder. Upon arriving at the elder's house, the boy presented him the water-filled canteen. The old man looked up in surprise, graciously took the canteen, and drunk what he could. He thanked the young student-boy for thinking of him and bid him farewell. A couple days later, another young student-boy entered the tribal elder's home from a trip of his own. The elder gave him the canteen of water and the boy took a sip. After a few seconds, the boy gave the canteen back to the elder and exclaimed, “How could you drink that water and give it to me?” The water was quite old and stale by now. The old tribal elder look at the boy and said, “You just tasted the water. I tasted the gift.” How often we receive small, simple things and fail to give
thanks. We have all been given gifts—sunshine, rain, air, water, life—the simplest things we take for granted but couldn't do without. Only when we understand that the gifts we have been given are not to be taken at face value, but are to be appreciated for what they really are, then we can experience freedom in our souls. Paul and Silas, from the previous chapter, who were jailed for preaching the Gospel, did not need to be untied and unbound to experience freedom. They already had freedom on the inside because they expressed gratitude for their present situation. Our situations should not determine our level of gratitude. Our choice to be grateful should determine how we respond to whatever situation we face. True freedom begins first internally and then extends to other parts of life. It means nothing to be physically free and able to do as one pleases, if on the inside, we are bound by discontent, selfishness, and ingratitude. People who really live life are people who choose to live joyously, not always as they could, but as they ought. Selflessness is a form of inner freedom. It is easier to just focus on ourselves, but it is the person who chooses to put others first, love
unconditionally, and serve without expectation who has really experienced freedom. Gratitude is freedom because it opens up the door to many blessings and allows us to live life with contentment and joy.
ON GRATITUDE AND PEACE Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there’s always something we could be grateful for. -Barry Neil Kaufman
Gratitude Is... Peace Peace is often portrayed as an idea, an abstract thought that has no real foundation. The word peace might bring to mind sunshiny, breezy days with clear blue water on the beach. We might think of sitting in a hammock under a tree reading a book. Others may think of cooking, sewing, baking, shopping, or something else as an idea of peace. Peace can be conveyed through writing, for some it is meditation, for others it is through spirituality and religious experiences. For many people in today's world, peace is a far-fetched idea. We are wired to receive the most noise that is simultaneously possible. It is abnormal for many people to have a sense of silence, peace, or quiet around them. From sun up to sun down, and even way past that time, people and things are moving. For good or ill, people are talking, planning, and strategizing. Peace is absent from a world accustomed to noise but desperately craving silence. At our core, we are all screaming for an existence that is tranquil; a blessed inner serenity that causes us to intentionally lose hearing of the many forces that challenge us and beg for our
attention. Peace is often evaded by our want for more of nearly everything. For many people, what is here and now is not enough. If our next door neighbor has a new car, we, too want a new car. Instead of moving forward in our own individuality, we try to keep up appearances, and attempt to be like and look like everyone else. Our lack of rest and contentment in solitude speaks volumes. Our world is restless as everyone seems to be trying to find that thing or that person that will calm them and satisfy their every need. We run with all our might seeking peace in more stuff. The more stuff we have, the less we are at peace because real peace cannot be found in stuff, people, or mere existence. Real peace can only be found in Jesus Christ. He replaces all of our earthly wants and fleshly desires with a calm that is permanent. Real peace allows us to express gratitude for all that we have right now and allows us to appreciate our present situation, whatever it is. It is an unspeakable, indescribable satisfaction that whatever happens is for our good. If it is good, we can be grateful for it. If it is bad, we can be grateful for the lessons we learn from it. The
gratitude in our heart is a direct result of the peace that exists in our soul. We don't have to beg for it or bargain for it. Peace is available to every person but we must choose to live our lives as God would have us live them, with contentment and thanksgiving. I am reminded of the story in of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42. Martha and Mary were sisters who had invited Jesus to come to their house. They both loved the Lord dearly and equally, I'm sure. They both wanted Him to be comfortable during His stay. But while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to Him speak, Martha busied herself preparing dinner. When Martha saw that Mary was not helping her, she complained to Jesus about the problem or the perceived problem. You would think that Jesus would have sympathized with her, but He did not. Instead, He replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.� Mary wanted to sit and listen to Jesus because He had something that she needed and she desperately wanted. He had the peace that she wanted to have in her heart after her
brother, Lazarus, had just died. She wanted to be at His feet because she realized that Jesus had the words of life and she desperately needed to hear those words. Martha was stressed and greatly concerned about something, that in the grand scheme of things, really didn't matter. The peace she should have had was for the time being absent. She was focused on what she could do for Jesus instead of what Jesus could do for her. Jesus said to her, “Mary has chosen what is better.� We, too, are often worried and upset about many things. In this topsy-turvy world, there is justified reason to be so. But when we get our mind off of ourselves, people, situations, or what we may or may not have, and turn our concerns and worries over to Jesus, we open the door for real peace to come in to our lives and give us the rest we want and desperately need. When we have real peace on the inside, nothing at all can disrupt it or take it away. While Martha was concerned with many temporary, earthly things, Mary chose to sit at the feet of the Prince of Peace. When we choose to be grateful for every situation in life,
we will find peace in our lives. For the peaceful person, it does not matter whether they lose material things. Those who have real peace know that everything happens for a reason, and whatever that reason is, they accept it as good and make the best out of it. A person at peace is unshaken when tragedy strikes because he or she knows that what goes on in the world is ultimately orchestrated and controlled by a Person who is mightier than all of us. Peace is not the absence of sorrow, sickness, and sadness, but the knowledge that all these things exist, and life can still be appreciated as it has been given. I think we can compare ourselves to the raging sea that Jesus had to calm and the worried disciples that Jesus had to comfort. While the rest of the world fights and wars for what is oftentimes not necessary or needed, God offers peace to those who turn to Him and put their minds on Him. Wherever we have peace, we can be grateful. We can be grateful when the storms of life are raging and we can be grateful for peace in the middle of the raging storms. Storms force us to be grateful for the calm days and those uneventful days can prepare us to be thankful when the stormy times come. Peace is not the absence of trouble, it is
the acceptance of it. And when we accept such things in life, we can be grateful for the experiences. Job comes to mind here. Job had everything in the world at one time. He had houses, land, a wife, ten children, thousands of cattle, servants, honor, and respect among his people. Anything he could want, he could get. I am pretty sure he could make almost anything happen in his community. He was the big man in the city. He knew all the decision-makers and they knew him. Money was not an issue for him, neither was having the finer things of life. Job had all the material stuff. But the Bible indicates that Job had much more than transitory, temporary things. He had an unwavering confidence in God that He would eventually work everything out. He knew that all he had and all he was able to do was because of God's blessings on his life. After the Bible tells us about Job's wealth and good fortune, it takes a negative turn. Job drops from being on top of the world to being an outcast of society. In one day, he loses everything he ever had; everything he had ever worked for was gone in a matter of hours. Three men came to him bringing along very bad news—Job's house was gone, his
cattle destroyed, his wealth evaporated, his children dead. EVERYTHING, within one single day, was taken away from Job. He went from high to low, top to bottom, rich to broke in one day. Now, for most of us, that would be a breaking point. To hear we had lost everything, that our children were dead, and on top of that, that we were deathly sick, there's not much more a normal person could take. We would be disappointed, depressed, and distressed at such sad and unfortunate news. Yet, this is what Job had to go through. The Bible, however, says nothing at all of Job being angry at God or whining and complaining about his new-found situation. Instead, Job asked his wife—after she told him to “curse God and die”—“Shall we accept good from God and not also accept bad?” What a mindset to have at such a tragic time. These words from Job's mouth after all the hell he was going through, speaks to us and lets us know that Job had an inner peace that everything that was happening was for his good. Job further stated, “the Lord gave and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
At these two times, with these two statements, Job portrays a state of tranquility in the midst of unimaginable tragedy. Even with his present condition, he was not worried. He was down physically and materially, but his mind and soul was in a much higher place. Our circumstances should never have any bearing upon our peace of mind. Tough times do not determine our peace or lack thereof. Our peace determines how we deal with the tough times that we will inevitably face. Outside of the power of a sovereign God, there is no explanation as to how people can have true peace in the middle of very difficult times. God extends His peace to all who genuinely want it. Not only did Job express peace in the midst of his raging life storm, he also expressed gratitude. “The Lord gave and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.� In Job's situation, he could have chosen to forget about all his past fortunes and the many good things God had given to him and done for him. But he didn't do that. He didn't immediately take out a charge against God and hurl insults and threats at God for allowing this situation in his life. No, he chose instead to express gratitude, to thank God for all that He had done for him and even for his present sad
predicament. You see, Job's situation did not determine his gratitude or his peace, instead, his peace and gratitude dictated how he responded to his situation. He had a grateful heart in the good times and now we can clearly see that he had a grateful heart in the bad times as well. Peace is something that cannot be bought or taught. It cannot be borrowed or given by people; and when we have true peace, it certainly cannot be taken away. When we choose to be grateful for everything, we welcome peace into our lives. Peace forms a firm foundation for living. Real peace gives us a reason not to worry about anything, not to want for anything, and helps us to be able to deal with everything that comes our way. Gratitude is peace because when we are truly grateful for anything and everything, we can sing “it is well, it is well with my soul.�
ON GRATITUDE AND SMALL STUFF Once you become oriented toward looking for things to be grateful for, you will find that you begin to appreciate simple pleasures and things that you previously took for granted. Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an allthe-time gratitude, the kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly look for the good even in unpleasant situations. -Marelisa Fabrega
Gratitude Is... Appreciation for the Small Stuff How often do we really think about a cup of water? How about a nice, warm bath? Or even food to eat on a daily basis? For our sophisticated, advanced, technological society, how often do we show our thankfulness for even iPhones, iPads, laptops, energy saving vehicles, Google search, and Starbucks coffee? We wake up each morning ready to put action to our agendas that we sometimes forget that life is mostly made up of a lot of small things. We rarely even notice such small things and thus we fail to be thankful for them. We rush through life taking everything for granted, believing the next thing that comes around will be better than the last. We only stop and realize the preciousness of life when tragedy strikes and forces us to acknowledge what we have and to realize how quickly life can change. We often don't pay attention to the things we use every single day until one day it's gone. We don't have to wait until we lose something or lose someone to realize how
much we really had. What are some of the things we use everyday, small things, that we usually take for granted? Let's take hearing, for example. We do not frequently think about our ability to hear, or much less, express gratitude for it. How about eyesight? Do we purposely awaken in the morning and express our appreciation for the ability to see? Probably not. But yet we go about our day, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and using our hands and our feet. (I am guilty of this too.) We take for granted the small things that we desperately need not realizing how much of a different life we would lead if we did not have these things. Now, let's imagine for a moment that we lost these things that we take for granted. We once had eyesight, but now it is gone. Once we could hear, but now we are hearing impaired. At one point, we could walk on our own two feet, but now we are confined to a wheelchair. Imagine our hands being weak, numb, stiff from pain, and suddenly, we are unable to drive, cook, write, eat, pick up a phone, or play ball with our kids. Let's imagine our brain was once functioning properly and we could think, act, and reason, but now we are suffering from brain damage or cancer and we are no longer able to function mentally. Now, we must be cared for instead
of taking care of ourselves as we are accustomed to doing. Decisions must now be made for us instead of by us. Imagine that all these necessary things we had at one time are now gone. It is one thing to have never had eyesight or hearing from birth, but it is another thing to have once had it and now it is gone. Now, let's imagine that gradually, we gain everything we lost back. The ability to see, hear, think, walk, talk, and do for ourselves all comes back to us. The gain after loss forces us to become more grateful, more appreciative of these things we once took for granted. Unfortunately, sometimes, we have to lose things in order to realize how much we really had in the first place. The point is to be like Job—to be grateful when we have everything and grateful when we don't. It it easy to be thankful for big things such as when we've gotten that long-awaited job promotion, gotten married, graduated from college, had our first child, received a pay raise, or experienced some other level of success in life. That is good and we should be grateful for these big moments. But we must understand that while life is made of big
moments, it is made up of a lot more smaller moments. You will have more small moments than big moments. If you're only grateful for the big stuff, you'll miss out on the joy of living life. We all have to learn to express gratitude for the small stuff too. Life's mountaintop experiences are few and far between. Ask any person who has lived well for any length of time and you will find that everyday is not a celebration. We have those moments sometimes, but most of life is made up of doing routine basic stuff every single day. The point is not to run through a daily routine without giving a second's thought as to why and how we are able to do it. It is to do routine stuff knowing full well the difficulties we would face if such things could not be done. Even when routine gets boring and life gets tough, there is still joy to be found in simply being alive, taking a breath, and realizing the gift of another day. We often miss out on the joy of living when we miss the moments of recognizing the little things we have. For many people all around the world, bare necessities are hard to obtain, and if they are easy for you and I we should express gratitude and walk out our gratitude by giving and serving.
Life is about advancement and progress. Yes, we should strive to reach big goals and accomplish great things. But, on our journey to get to where we want to go, we will enjoy the destination far better, if we learn to first enjoy the small stuff. Gratitude ultimately is the enjoyment of life, every little bit of it – the good, the bad, and the in between. It is recognizing that the moments—every second—is what makes up life as a whole. We should live in anticipation of milestones and big achievements, but in between those times, there are seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years that we should also be living, enjoying and appreciating. Many people strive for this and that, try to get here or there, and are always looking for the greatest excitement or the next big thrill to throw them into an air of ecstasy so they can feel good about themselves. We can't live on a rollercoaster forever, at some point, what goes up must come down, and we must get back into the flow of everyday life. We never want to be responsible for only living for the big moments while failing to enjoy the small ones.
I think of David and the book of Psalms when I think about this topic. David was anointed to be king of Israel at eighteen years old, but he spent approximately twelve years running from the current king, Saul. All throughout his reign as king he faced difficult circumstances. His son was killed. His daughter was raped by her brother. Other kings tried to wrestle the kingdom from him. He led in wars he didn't want to fight. He took a man's wife as his own and had her husband killed in battle. The child they conceived died. He almost lost the kingdom. His pride made him lie about his sins for nine months. People still fought him, Saul still hated him. He had to duck and hide for years. He walked through valleys and celebrated on mountains. He won wars and conquered kings and kingdoms. He failed. He got back up. But throughout the Psalms, there is an underlying thread of continuous gratitude and appreciation to God for an abundance of grace and mercy bestowed upon his life. David found reasons to praise the Lord and to express thankfulness in the multiplicity of situations he found himself in. In his successes and failures, when people loved him and when they didn't, when he was
up and when he was down, he wrote about all of it and his book is replete with messages and thoughts of gratitude. Gratitude does not determine our situation. Gratitude determines how we respond to our situation. When we express gratitude for all things, we open a doorway for joy and peace to come into our lives. The small things are often the most important things. They should never be taken for granted because when we appreciate the small things we make way for even bigger things to come into our lives.
ON GRATITUDE AND GIVING Gratitude and service are the two best paths to joy. I mean, I'm not stupid -- if you want loving feelings, do loving things. Period. -Anne Lamott
Gratitude Is... Giving and Service Me...I...Myself...Mine. These four words are small but are among the most commonly used words in the world. These four words are used triple the amount of time that othersfocused words such as you, your, them, and those are used. If we would take a moment to observe the world around us, we would see that self-centered and me-focused words are used much more than we ever realized. By nature, we often think about ourselves first. Many times, when an employee seeks a job, one of the top questions he wants answered is, how much is the pay? When at the negotiating table in an investment firm, both parties are asking, directly or indirectly, what is in this deal for me? It is very easy to focus on just ourselves when the rest of the world is seemingly not our problem. Little do we know, however, the rest of the world is really our concern. In order to do anything worthwhile, we must focus on others and think about how what we do in life will affect them as opposed to just ourselves.
It is a universal law that we reap what we sow. How we treat or don't treat people will be the way people treat or don't treat us. What we give, we'll get back and oftentimes, we'll receive more than we originally gave. Jesus said as much when He said in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” We will find amazing opportunities to express gratitude when we replace getting with giving. The blessings that come our way as a result of our willingness to give, sacrifice, and serve in any capacity, are innumerable. Research shows that giving to others yields good results and good feelings not only for the receiver, but for the giver. For example, a study in Psychological Science found an interesting fact about giving and time. Those who were told to write a note to a sick child felt as though they had more time to do other things within their day than those who were told to do routine tasks. When it comes to doing something for someone else, being selfless with our time causes us in the end to gain more time to accomplish other tasks. Michael Norton of Harvard Business School spoke to this same fact. He said, “giving time away alleviates people’s sense of time famine even more than receiving unexpected windfalls of free time.”
By giving to others, to important causes, to meaningful endeavours, we create reasons for us to be and feel grateful. When we give, we express our appreciation for all the things we do have and the ability to give back in whatever way we choose adds hands and feet to our attitude of gratitude. When we acknowledge how full our own life is, we can display a heart of selflessness and service in our community and in our position in the world. When we reach a place where all we have left to do is give and not take, we have reached a very powerful place. When we become conscious of the gifts we have received—life, health, shelter, food, work—and we feel gratitude in our hearts for these things, we can keep the chain of gifts going by joyfully paying forward. Giving is not just about the action, it's about the heart and soul behind it that makes it worth it. When we give, we automatically begin to experience a life where our cup is always overflowing. We may not live in a mansion or drive a Jaguar or be a millionaire, but when we give of our time, attention, resources, presence, whatever
we have at our disposal, we will find that we will never lack for anything. True giving and service comes from a heart that goes much deeper than material, transitory things. People lose material things all the time, but the memory of what you did for them and how you did it will be with them forever. With the knowledge that we can give and serve wherever and with whatever we have, new opportunities open up for us to do so. Giving delivers us from focusing on “me” and turns our attention to focusing on “we”. We replace questions such as “what can I get?” with questions such as “what can I give?” When we change our mentality from consumption to contribution, we open up doors for opportunities, joys, and freedoms that we never had before to come our way. Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “A person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.” When we give with a whole heart, we experience more blessings than we can imagine. Earlier in this chapter, we quoted Jesus when He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The reason why so many relationships are in trouble is because each person is in it for himself or herself.
For many people, it is about “what can I get out of this?” instead of “what can I give to this person?” or “how can I make this person better?” When we flip our minds from “me” to “we”, we replace our ego and attitude of entitlement with a new focus on others and how we can make a difference for them. We eventually find what we are looking for when we give to others who are often looking for something more necessary than we are. Not only is it “more blessed to give than to receive”, it is guaranteed that the more we give, the more we will receive. We should not give for that reason, but the universal principle of this fact is certain to happen. You never know what kind of impact you can have on someone's life simply because you gave them a hug, a smile, a kind word, or food to eat, shelter, and clean clothes. The person you help may in turn help someone else. UCSF School of Medicine Professor, Rachel Naomi Remen said, "When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole." Each gift you give becomes a gift that can multiply because each person feels the obligation to pay it forward.
When we give and serve, we begin to realize how much we really do have in life. Gifts, talents, time, resources, everything we have becomes something we should be grateful for. When we start giving based upon what we have and what we choose to be grateful for, we not only experience the joy of giving, but the blessings that come from giving as well.
ON GRATITUDE AND LIFE Blessings, mercy, tenderness, nature, forgiveness, and compassionate relationships exits in our world, yet they compete with the noise and obsessions of video games, computers, greed, and peer pressure. We know we're off balance, yet we often struggle to realign ourselves. Rarely do we realize that if we simply take time to marvel at life's gifts and give thanks for them, we activate stunning opportunities to increase their influence in our lives. -Marianne Williamson
Before You Go... I want to thank you for reading this book. I hope that you were inspired by the benefits of gratitude and motivated to develop a lifestyle of gratitude. If you enjoyed what you read and want to read more, please visit my website at www.DaniellaWhyte.com. Subscribe to receive my free biweekly newsletter and I will email you a new article, podcast, and other tidbits of information (much like what you read here) each week. I promise not everything I send you is about gratitude, but you will receive some of that too. Finally, check out Everyday Thanks, a daily devotional podcast that inspires us all to develop and live a lifestyle of gratitude. In addition to my site, Everyday Thanks is available on various outlets including: Itunes, Buzzsprout, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Youtube and www.EverydayThanks365.com. On Twitter, using #365thanks, you can tell us what you're grateful for, and yes, you will get a retweet, a favorite, or
both from me. Thanks again and remember, the more we choose to be grateful for each day, the wider we open the door for good things to come into our lives. With Gratitude, Daniella Whyte
Thanks In Advance for Your Help Thank you again for buying Gratitude Is... I hope you had a wonderful time reading it as I had writing it. Before you close the book, I want to make one request. If you would write an honest review of this book on Amazon.com, I would be most appreciative. Reviews not only help to promote this book, but they help to reach more people. If you have the time, please go to www.Amazon.com and write a review stating what you liked about the book, what you didn't like about the book, how it helped you, and what you would like to see included. I read all reviews and use them, both good and bad, for future books and articles. With gratitude, Daniella Whyte