What are you grateful for?

It’s a question we all ask ourselves this time of year. We take turns going around the Thanksgiving table, sharing stories of how God has blessed us and what we are thankful for this year. It’s no secret the holiday season is a time that inspires us to take a harder look at the things we have to be thankful for.

But true gratitude is not just a one-time thing. It’s more than one act of kindness or simply saying it out loud. Thankfulness is not something we should only turn to when the turkey is on the table, only to set aside for the rest of the year. Rev. Paul Rasmussen recently shared a powerful message about what it means to have a grateful heart.

“Gratitude is more than a kind gesture,” he says. “True gratitude is when your whole life is oriented toward giving thanks and giving praise.”

As Christians, gratitude is integral to our faith. Nothing has more power to lift us out of a negative mindset, than adopting a spirit of gratitude. In his message, “Grateful,” Rev. Rasmussen shared three statements that will help encourage in you a spirit of thankfulness.

Every good thing I have comes from God.

We often have a tendency to take credit for the good things in our life, instead of giving credit to God for the gifts God has given us. In reality, every good thing we have comes from God.

James 1:17 says, “Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all.”

I will not let what I want rob me of what I have.

Too often we live in the world of “if only…” If only I had more money. If only I had better kids. If only I had a bigger house. We never think we have enough.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 cautions us against this mindset, saying “It’s better to enjoy what’s at hand than to have an insatiable appetite. This too is pointless, just wind chasing.”

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t chase big dreams, or desire better circumstances for our families and ourselves. Instead, it warns us not to take for granted the very things that are already right in front of us. When we adopt a mindset of gratitude, we stop wanting what we don’t have and start to realize all the amazing things we do have.

I will turn every blessing into praise.

If we are not intentional about thanking God for the blessings we receive, we can start to think that we’ve earned them. We start to think the good things in our life are a result of our hard work, and not gifts from a good God who loves us.

In Psalms 63 David writes, “So I will bless you as long as I’m alive; I will lift up my hands in your name.” Like David, we need to create a habit of thanking God for the good things in our lives, big and small. When we do this, gratefulness becomes part of who we are, and not just something we do every once in a while.

We encourage you to take these three statements and write them down somewhere you will see them everyday. Put them in your phone and think on them often. Repeat them while you’re driving in the car. Teach them to your kids.

Real gratitude is not something we practice once a year on Thanksgiving. It should never be invisible or silent. Real gratitude comes when we recognize that every good gift comes from God, that we can be happy with what we have now, and when we give thanks to God for all the blessings in our life.

If you do these three things, Rev. Rasmussen says, “You will unlock the vault of all the other great values that God cannot wait for you to have.”