Choosing Gratitude

My article about having gratitude for our freedoms has now gone live on Crossmap, the Christian Post’s online magazine (link included as promised!). Springboarding off of that, I want to dig deeper into the broader concept of gratitude, because now that it’s top of mind I’m noticing how quickly I can overlook it and instead choose to complain.

Work frustrations, traffic jams, aches and pains, financial challenges…the list is endless when it comes to “valid” reasons to complain. It’s easy to feel justified in complaining when our problems are real. And we can always find people to agree with us, because there is never a shortage of people ready to engage in negativity together, especially if they’re going through similar circumstances.

I don’t want to make light of people’s pain; far from it. I empathize greatly with struggle. But rather than finding temporary relief in complaining, we have the opportunity to find lasting peace in gratitude. This is incredibly important because problems will always be with us this side of heaven. How we deal with them influences the amount of joy, freedom, and impact we experience during this life. We’re also actually commanded to be grateful (see 1 Thessalonians 5:18 below), so it’s certainly a topic worthy of much reflection and effort.

I’m working on this, little by little, by doing two things:

First, I’m trying to exchange negative words for positive ones. For example, instead of complaining that something is hard to figure out, I say I’m grateful for the ability to think and solve problems. Instead of criticizing myself for what I ate today, I say I’m grateful I am able to eat and metabolize food. And so on…

Secondly, l’m writing down one thing I’m grateful for every day. I want to see how many days in a row I can do this. I sense it will radically shift my threshold for complaining. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Reflection Questions

Do you identify with my tendency to have an automatic reaction of negativity instead of gratitude? If so, what triggers your complaining the most? For me it’s chronic pain. I’m working on being more grateful for the ways in which my body does function well, instead of dwelling on the ways it doesn’t.

I invite you to join me in documenting gratitude. I’d love to hear how it’s working for you, so keep in touch about it!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)