Not Thankful Enough

Perhaps one of my greatest flaws is the fact that I do not express my gratitude nearly enough as I should. Whether it is writing a thank-you card for a gift, shooting an email to a colleague, or spending enough time in prayer, thanking God for His goodness, I seem to fail more often than I give thanks for blessings in life.

The Psalms are filled with songs of thanks, because God has provided for us and protected us in ways we cannot imagine. The theme cannot be ignored. One contemporary praise song jumps straight out of the Psalms, opening with "Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King; His love endures forever" (Ps. 136.1). Perhaps the very first scripture memory passage of my entire life contained the words, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise" (Ps. 100.4). You'd think I'd remember to be thankful.

The apostle Paul was perhaps the one authority on giving thanks, as he was imprisoned and persecuted for the sake of the gospel, yet he chose to set his mind on giving thanks for God's goodness. If anyone was to be given permission to forget to be thankful, it would have been him!

Perhaps we as God's people could learn to be more thankful on a regular basis. But, it would require a shift of thinking, a change of perspective. It would be a choice. God got on Israel's case all the time, because they FORGOT what He had done for them - getting them out of Egypt, providing for their every need, etc. Surely we can learn from their mistakes, right?

By the way, thanks for reading this blog!