The Power of Gratitude

Last week at our staff meeting, Betsy Parkhurst shared this devotion. I think it’s a message worth sharing with the whole parish.
– Chip

With the year the world has had, I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude. In the first few months of this year, I’ve been using gratitude as a tool to help me remain positive. I am the type of person who always sets New Year’s resolutions, but after 2020, I set my expectations low for 2021. Instead of resolutions, I decided I would try to practice gratitude for all the little things in my life. My friend Ainslie gave me a Gratitude Journal for Christmas, which was perfect timing. The journal offers a weekly quote about gratitude, and space to write down three things I am grateful for each day. At the end of the week, there is a space to name the highlights of my week. I have found this to be very helpful in a year that felt pretty similar to 2020 until just recently.

I have come to believe we have two choices: Let the sadness and darkness bring us down, or try to be positive and grateful. Being positive and grateful can become infectious, and could lead to positive changes in the world that are so desperately needed.

Scripture encourages us to be grateful in all things, not necessarily to be grateful for all things. A daily practice of gratitude can help us notice both what keeps us in the flow of God’s love and desires for us, and what pushes us out of that flow. It can offer us room to discover what touches our hearts and the hearts of others, what inspires a lasting joy, and what allows us to listen more deeply for the ways our prayer joins with God’s prayer in every area of our lives. Simple gratitude helps us experience God at work in every moment of every day.

As Robert Holden said, “The real gift of gratitude is that the more grateful you are, the more present you become.” Being truly present and aware of what is all around us can make us even more grateful. In the words of Brené Brown, “I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”

Max Lucado offers this perspective: “Gratitude gets us through the hard stuff. To reflect on your blessings is to rehearse God’s accomplishments and discover his heart... [This leads us to recognize] not only good gifts, but the Good Giver. Gratitude always leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what the morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it off.”

I could go on and on about gratitude. To me it is like a medicine that can help all of us if we prescribe it in our daily lives. It improves your attitude. You can’t be down and be grateful at the same time. I would like to invite you to try practicing gratitude every day, and see the difference it can make in your life, especially during this tough time. Because when the pandemic finally ends, we will have many scars from COVID. Gratitude just might help heal our wounds.