Why We Should Be More Grateful
Something so small can have significant effects.
Two words: Thank you.
We teach our children that these are the magic words, along with saying “Please.”
While I don’t know about them being magical for us adults, expressing thanks seems to have some incredibly substantial benefits.
Studies have shown that gratitude:
1. opens the door to more relationships.
2. improves physical health.
3. improves psychological health.
4. enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
5. improves sleep
6. improves self-esteem
7. increases mental strength.
So if something as simple as saying “thank you” can improve our lives that well, what prevents us from being grateful more often?
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul writes to a church under intense scrutiny and persecution. To that end, much of his letter is encouraging and hopeful.
And so true to form, at the end of the letter, Paul gives them suggestions and recommendations for how they can make the best of a terrible situation as a community.
Specifically, he tells them to:
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18 NIV)
That’s right. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, experiencing untold levels of persecution and injustice, to “give thanks in all circumstances…”
That word “all,” of course, means “including everything, excluding nothing.”
And to boot, Paul is also likely unjustly imprisoned for preaching the good news while writing those words.
Now if Paul has to tell this faith community to give thanks in all circumstances, then that could provide us with a clue into what’s preventing us from being as grateful as we can be.
What we see as the ultimate barrier to gratitude in all circumstances is… circumstances themselves.
Essentially, Life.
Life here can be a solid prohibitor to being thankful for life.
Now, I want to state that it is a natural and normal reaction to not view a negative experience positively. I don’t want to engage in toxic positivity here.
Life here is hard; Life is fragile and frail. Life here can be a roller coaster of high and low moments.
There are family issues, medical conditions, systemic and societal problems like racism, homophobia, misogyny, rampant unkindness, corporate greed, ignorance, entitlement, and random and senseless violence.
And with life being what it is for all of us, it can be challenging, no, near impossible, to practice gratitude and give thanks no matter what happens.
But it is precisely because of this obstacle — life — that we have this unique gift of gratitude.
Because God knows and understands life, He offers us this gift as our best response to whatever comes our way.
The book of Hebrews describes Jesus Christ as someone who can sympathize with our weaknesses because He was once like us, walking this earth, feeling the things we feel, experiencing what we experienced. Yet, He always maintained focus and clarity on the point of this life.
That’s what it means when it says that He “did not sin”.
While Jesus lived on this earth, He always gave thanks.
When He ate with his 12 disciples the night before He was crucified, before he broke the bread, which symbolized His body, He gave thanks.
Before He drank and passed around the wine, symbolizing His blood to be shed the following day, He gave thanks.
And after He was raised from the dead and about to break bread with the two men He met on the road to Emmaus, He gave thanks.
Whether living His life, facing the agony of His death, or walking in the glory of His resurrection, Jesus always gave thanks.
Gratitude Matters.
Because out of all the things life repeatedly shows us we have no control over, it is one thing that is certainly within our control. We cannot control how this life goes or how people treat us, but we definitely have the power to shift our perspective and dictate our response.
It is like the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat.
A thermometer can only tell you the temperature of a room. It cannot change the temperature. But a thermostat, on the other hand, can change and can condition the room to be whatever you need the temperature you need it to be to function, be productive, and thrive in that space.
Gratitude, the ability to give thanks, gives us the power to condition, to regulate ourselves so that we can respond to life appropriately and productively.
Wim Hof is a person with extraordinary abilities. This man has demonstrated the ability to regulate and even raise his body temperature while exposed to extremely cold environments.
Scientists have studied him. He set world records for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice.
He holds a record for running 13 miles, a half-marathon, on ice and snow — barefoot.
Now I wish I could harness that ability in reverse — to lower my body temperature at will to survive this Texas heat and keep my energy bill low!
All joking aside, in a way, that’s pretty much how gratitude works.
Because of gratitude, no matter what is happening in this cold world, the circumstances — what’s going on outwardly — lose their power to dictate how I should perceive my life inwardly.
When we give thanks in all of our circumstances, we have the ability, like Wim Hof and his body temperature, to regulate our emotions and shift our perspective.
And then, we can achieve the clarity and focus needed to not only survive but thrive.
Gratitude not only gives us the power to shift our perspective, but it also feeds our faith.
It helps us to remain persuaded that even though things may not look good right now, God will somehow make all things work well.
Paul tells another community:
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV)
Gratitude helps us remember that God is in the midst of all things weaving the mess of our lives for our good and Their glory.
King David, as problematic as his story is, looks back on his life and says in a Psalm to God that,
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. (Psalm 119:71 NIV)
Joseph, in the book of Genesis, definitely had a rough patch.
He was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery.
And through it all, the hand of God was upon him, even when it seemed like, at moments, God was not there.
God favored him and raised him to 2nd in command in the very empire that originally enslaved him.
And They did it when Joseph could be a blessing to his family — the same family that betrayed him — when they needed it the most.
Joseph, and the end of it all, looked his brothers square in the face and said,
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20 NIV)
Things and even people happen to our lives and affect them in ways beyond our control.
But we can be thankful in all things because we are persuaded that God is in our lives using every moment, every situation, every disappointment, every loss, every tragedy — They’re using it all to weave a life and a future better than we can imagine.
But we have to use the gift, the tool of gratitude.
So let’s pick that tool up more often.
