Practice gratitude

July 26, 2017 | 23 comments

Gratitude gets us through the hard stuff.
To reflect on your blessings is to rehearse God’s accomplishments.
To rehearse His accomplishments is to discover His heart.
Gratitude always leaves us looking at God and away from dread.
So practice gratitude!

As Ephesians 5:20 puts it, “Give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

~ Max Lucado

23 thoughts on “Practice gratitude”

  1. Being grateful is enough to get us started on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thank you Evan for this gentle reminder of what is important.

  2. Evan your inspirations come as blessings to help us cope up with life’s rough weather. We all pass through troubled waters, but our attitude towards life makes all the difference. As you so correctly mention “Gratitude always leaves us looking at God and away from dread.”
    Here I am reminded of the incident where Peter was able to walk on the ocean when he looked to the Christ. But the moment he looked to the mighty waves, he started to sink… At this Jesus says “Why do you doubt?” In our life, we too pass through troubled times, and as long as we hold the mighty hand of God and walk with Him, He will protect us, show us the way and safely lead us joyously. But the moment we doubt His loving care and give in to fears, we drown in despair… So look up to the Christ, trust in His care, dwell on His blessings, be grateful for each and every gift and never leave His hand. God is our best friend all the way.

  3. ‘Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty’. Gratitude enriches us with so many blessings and the more grateful we are for what we have, the more God given riches we receive. Sometimes when things have seemed very discouraging in my life, I have been most grateful for all that I have been blessed with, and the discouragement has lifted.
    Thank you, Evan, for this wonderful blog and thank you to all who come here and share in heart and in soul. Have a great day everyone

  4. As always, thank you, Evan. Gratitude is another of the gifts that money can never
    buy. Many is the time when I have been exhausted and disheartened feeling that I cannot continue–once I begin being thankful all the doubt and discouragement and tiredness vanish and all is well. Hymn 249 in the CS hymnbook reads: “Our gratitude is riches, Complaint is poverty….”. Simple and true.

  5. Good Morning dear SpiritView Family!

    Grateful for you, I am.

    Here’s a sweet poem from our wonderful JSH-online Journal, that goes well
    with this Week’s Bible Lesson on “Love:”

    THE SHEPHERD’S SONG (PSALM 23)

    By TESSA BRAY
    From the February 2010 issue of The Christian Science Journal

    In my darkest night, when I thought I was all alone
    I closed my eyes and felt the fear circle round.
    But then something moved, like a murmur in a nameless crowd
    And I heard Your voice calling my name out loud.

    You said, “I am your God and you are My precious one;
    I made you brighter than brightest sun.
    Come let Us walk through My pastures evergreen
    Come rest your head, lie beside My gentle stream.
    I will lead you, perfect lamb of Mine, fearless by My design.

    And yet, when you feel a darkness begin
    Be still, don’t hide, I am by your side.
    With reason’s rod, your strongest guard
    You are forever safe as I reveal My grace.

    And so now you see, My child, it’s more than you could ever dream;
    Already in your place, you belong at the table of the King.
    Let Me fill your life, let it brim with My love
    I am All and you are My own—

    Welcome home.

    I will always lead you, perfect lamb of Mine, fearless by My design.”

    —TESSA BRAY

  6. I’m so grateful for this uplifting blog and all the beautiful thoughts and ideas shared here. I’m certain my day will be better because of it. ❤️

  7. I love Evan’s “thought for the day,” it’s always relevant to my life! It gets my day off to a positive start, and helps my mind stay on track!
    And thank you to all those with such inspiring responses as well.

  8. When the
    finite thinking
    human
    Encounters
    the infinite
    Knowing God
    The heart
    melts in gratitude
    and true humility
    becomes his kind
    Meekness become
    his strength
    He knows he is
    God’s ‘ I Am”

  9. It is sometimes
    So hard to admit
    The Truth
    about ourselves

    That we are
    in fact the
    Power and Glory
    of God’s manifestation
    and this exist,
    as surely as we exist,
    within our being
    as our True Self
    Our only Self

    The problems of the
    personality
    Can never find
    solution using
    only the attributions
    of personal sense

  10. Beautiful poems, beautiful thoughts, thanks to all.

    Sometime we have to give thanks that the reality of God is the exact opposite of what seems to be. I once had constant pain in my knee — a challenge when I do constant biking!
    So I decided that each pain was an opportunity to THANK GOD with all my heart that He never made pain and never made it a part of me. Very soon it was gone.
    I told this to a little girl who had a chronic cough.
    Her mom noticed her daughter wasn’t coughing anymore, and when she asked the little one what happened she said that every time she coughed she said thank you to God that He had never made a cough and never gave it to her. He made her free, and she was!

    Like, YAY!

    1. Yay indeed! Thanks! Children that aren’t so “experienced” at materialistic thinking are so quick to demonstrate C. S.

    2. “God never made it and never made it a part of me”. Such a simple but powerful statement. Thank you Diane. That’s so helpful!

  11. Oh, thank you all, dear SpiritView family for your helpful comments and the true and sweet and inspiring poems.

    Thank you Evan, that you brought up this important theme, to remind us to be grateful, also when, or perhaps because we seem to be in the greatest challenge. To come out of this challenge with Gods loving help and guidance makes us stronger and teaches us another healing lesson. For that I am most grateful!

    Gratitude to God is a very healing aspect – so I am grateful for Christian Science, its very precious teachings 🙂

  12. Thanks Spirit View Fan for sharing that lovely poem. It was so good, so comforting. Tessa Bray you write so well. Congrats.

    Thanks to Diane for sharing the lovely demonstration you had..Saying thank you each time you got the pain in the knee. Affirming God’s allness in the face of pain. That’s exactly what we need to do. Lovely

    Thanks Maximo for your poems which are always good.

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