Gratitude and thankfulness are easy to overlook.

It’s a perverse part of our nature to gravitate toward the negative, to bemoan the fact that things aren’t going as we wish they would. Whining, complaining? That comes easy. But to count our blessings, to show gratitude and thankfulness – that can be challenging.

My contention is that forgetting gratitude and thankfulness erodes our very souls. If we want to cultivate hope in perfectly awful days, we can do better.

As Christians, we have to be mindful that God is sovereign over all things. I mean, dang – I can act as though things are out of control, and in reality, they never are. Never.

Everything that happens to us is ultimately for our good and His glory. If we could embrace that – and that’s something we all already know – we’d have a deep sense of gratitude and thankfulness, even when circumstances would lead us to curl up in a ball.

So, beloved, let’s ponder six reasons why gratitude and thankfulness are essential for cultivating hope. This’ll preach.

All my points are going to be pretty self-evident. Don’t look for any earth-shattering revelations. We’re back to basics today.

1 – Gratitude and thankfulness remind us of God’s goodness and faithfulness.

When we’re grateful, we focus on the blessings in our lives rather than the difficulties. This is a great perspective to have; it helps us remember that God is good and that He has been faithful to us in the past.

The Bible tells us that God is good, and everything He does is good (Psalm 119:68). When we focus on what we have instead of what we lack, we begin to see the abundance of blessings God has given us.

The Israelites could teach whining on a collegiate level. In Exodus, these folks were wandering around in the desert complaining about their circumstances. (Of course, we’d never be guilty of such a thing.) God says, “Aight, folks, here’s your manna. Here’s your quail. Nowquitcherbellyachin.”

God provided in short order. Think He won’t provide for us, too? Philippians 4:6-7, right? There’s a path to gratitude and thankfulness right there.

2 – Thankfulness and gratitude help us to focus on what we have, rather than what we lack.

This is a companion thought to that first point, and another facet of gratitude and thankfulness. When we’re grateful for what we have, we’re less likely to focus on what we don’t have. That perspective helps us to be content with our current circumstances, even if they aren’t ideal. Believe that?

Contentment is an essential ingredient for cultivating hope. It allows us to trust that God is working all things together for our good.

The apostle Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11-12.) Paul’s contentment was rooted in his gratitude for the Lord’s provision, and it enabled him to have hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. Take that, complainers!

3 – Gratitude and thankfulness help us cultivate joy.

When it comes to gratitude and thankfulness, those values lead to joy. Every single time. What powerful tools!

The Bible tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). When we cultivate gratitude, we open our hearts to receive the joy that God desires to give us.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, we are commanded to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” When we choose to be grateful, we are aligning our hearts with God’s will for our lives, which can bring great joy and hope.

As always, be wary of putting joy and happiness on the same level. Happiness is transient – it’s based on circumstances of the moment and can be fleeting. A really good pizza can make me happy, but sooner or later I’ll be hungry again. Joy keeps me well-fed and perpetually content.

4 – Thankfulness and gratitude help us overcome anxiety.

Have you ever thought about this? Worry can be so pervasive. Maybe that’s your kryptonite. It might be that you worry because you worry. Because, as a believer, worry is sinful, right?

Anxiety can be a significant barrier to cultivating hope, but gratitude can help us overcome it. When we focus on what we have instead of what we lack, we begin to see that God is faithful and that He will provide for our needs.

You have plenty. I’m not just talking about stuff and things. We could stay in that arena and you’d have to admit you have all you need to sustain yourself. I’m also talking about those wonderful intangibles, things like your salvation. It’s not going to be taken away from you.

Here’s gold-standard scripture. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus encourages us not to worry about our needs but to trust that God will provide for us. He says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” When we choose to be grateful, we are choosing to trust in God’s provision and to let go of our anxieties. You can choose. Isn’t that amazing.

5 – Gratitude and thankfulness help us to love others.

This is an interesting point.

When we are grateful, we are more likely to show love and kindness to others. Gratitude helps us to see the good in people and to appreciate the ways in which they bless our lives.

I know this can be hard. How can you be thankful for someone who did you wrong?

There is a supernatural element to this, obviously. In the flesh, it’s well nigh impossible to be grateful for those bad people in your life. Yet God engineers circumstances so that our lives intersect with the most unlovable people, and there is always a divine reason for that.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we are told that love is patient, kind, and keeps no record of wrongs. When we choose to be grateful for the people in our lives, even the stinkers, we are cultivating love and kindness towards them.

6 – Gratitude and thankfulness help us to see God’s provision.

I keep circling back around to this one, trying to frame it in an accessible way.

The Bible tells us that God is the source of all blessings and that every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17). When we focus on what we have instead of what we lack, we can see the many ways in which God has provided for us.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we are told to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. When we choose to be grateful and thankful, we are acknowledging God’s provision in our lives, which can bring hope and encouragement in difficult times.

It all comes down to the all-sufficiency of God. The Bible tells us that God is faithful and that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6.) The promise of His presence is a promise to claim. You don’t face anything in life on your own. Absolutely nothing.

You are not alone in your struggles. Other people might not get it, or you. People are gifts from God (and you may wish some had a generous return policy … it’s like, “Hey, God, You can have this one back!”)

Just remember. God is with you, even in your darkest moments. Gratitude and thankfulness will help you experience that.

Talk later.

Thankfulness is what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

And yet, when thinking about thankfulness, I’m seeing that we have to live with a certain amount of tension, of what are apparently conflicting thoughts.

Thankfulness is an attitude we should grasp and hold onto. Countering that, though, is the pervasive presence of evil. How do we reconcile that?

Here’s some ancient script, from Ephesians 5:15 – 20a.

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Good ol’ Paul nails it again. When talking about thankfulness, he isn’t naive. He knows that he (and we) live in a pretty awful world.

He said “Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present age” (Galatians 1:4). In one of the great mysteries of God, He has given Satan a lot of leeway to do his evil, to the extent of him being called “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Why does God have Satan on a leash, and yet give him some freedom to do his wickedness?

Beats me. But when talking about thankfulness, I am thankful that we do have a choice in who we follow. Maybe that has something to do with free will.

Fact is, God is allowing wickedness and sin in the human heart to go wild, at least for now. You might want to argue that, and some of a more cynical bent might say, “Well, He’s not that much of a God if He doesn’t have any more power to restrain than that.”

This age is evil because there is so much suffering and catastrophes in this world, and it affects good folks and bad folks alike. I don’t get it either, but I do trust in God, Who has a much broader vantage point than I do.  That’s some reason for thankfulness right there.

If Paul embraced thankfulness – and he did – it came from some firsthand experiences.

He dealt with his own sin. Romans 7 – check it out.

He was stoned, beaten, thrown in prison, shipwrecked, snakebit, and went without food, clothes and shelter. He never knew when someone might flat-out kill him. His walk with God wasn’t exactly the proverbial bed of roses.

Still, Paul knew how to experience thankfulness, because he was able to see to some extent what God was up to with him. Christ told Paul that His power was made perfect in his weakness, and dang, do I ever take comfort in that!

Verse 20 is one of those verses that God slips in the Bible when I’m not looking. I read this earlier and said, “Whaaa…?”

Paul is telling us to do something quite extraordinary: Be thankful for everything. It does not say be thankful in everything. See the difference?

Thankfulness doesn’t, then, grow from a sense of knowing God is going to use circumstances to make us better. He does that, sure. But He says something really, really challenging – be thankful for everything. Everything. Ev-ree-thing.

I don’t think that means we should lead cheers at the graveside of our grandmother. God isn’t saying that we shouldn’t cry if our child has cancer. He doesn’t say we can’t be angry about sin, injustice, poverty, or anything else like that.

It’s complicated, this thankfulness thing. God said it, and I’m just sharing.

I’m trying to be helpful here without diving too deep into theology I can’t grasp. Here’s what I do know, though:

• When the angel appeared to Mary to tell her she’d have a son without a husband, he only told her what she needed to know – “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you … with God nothing will be impossible.” That’s a good word for us.
• Verse 18 talks about an exchange – don’t get drunk, but be filled with the Spirit. That may be the key, right there – swapping out worldly things and thoughts for the power of the Spirit that lives in us.
• That Spirit? He searches everything. He wants us to experience thankfulness. Trusting Him for that means that we can accept His total control over us and all creation. He can take the evils of this world and make them work for our eternal good. That doesn’t mean that life here won’t be hard. There is, though, that eternal promise, and we should remember – again – that we are pilgrims and sojourners here, and this world isn’t our home.

God wants to teach us that lesson, and it isn’t easy, now is it? I’m still wrestling with it.

Here’s where my thankfulness has landed: The days are evil, but I can give thanks always to God the Father. He’s up to something – lots of somethings. He is wise and sovereign and good.

Once I grasp that, thankfulness comes easily.

Be well. Let me hear from you.

Get over yourself.

I sure don’t want to hear that said to me. The implication is that I’m selfish, self-centered, and think the world owes me something.

Well, it does, right? I mean, all of you readers are supporting actors in my autobiography. I’m the star. The sun rises and sets on me. I think about me all the time. I know what I want and need. I have to look after Number One, because no one else will.

Wrong, on just about every level. You know that.

Here’s the reality check.

There are miracles and exceptions, but on a bad day, I’m not one of those miracles and exceptions. I wake up thinking about what I’ve got to do today. There are obligations I have for work and family. I try to meet those obligations. But at the core of things, I’m always thinking about how I feel, what I want, and how to keep myself happy and content with no rough spots in my life. Those rough spots are totally unwelcome.

Maybe that has something to do with a mutant form of self-preservation. After all, if I don’t take care of myself, I can’t meet the needs of others, right?

That’s partially true. You can’t water others from an empty well. 

That’s not the real issue. Under a thin veneer of doing the right thing, there is a selfish being dwelling inside each one of us. We let self-care get the best of us. We serve because it makes us feel good. It’s a great byproduct to know that we’ve helped someone else, but the bottom line is that our needs, at least in the flesh, come first.

Still with me?

This may get worse before it gets better, but hang with me.

We are all hot messes. It’s just a matter of degree. We can be awful. At the same time, we have the capacity for amazing goodness. It can only happen when we take our eyes off ourselves and quit being so preoccupied with what makes us feel good.

Hence, “get over yourself.” Let’s unpack that.

• You are not the center of the universe. I know that’s hard to believe, because we tend to think about ourselves all the time. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – self-awareness can keep us from being stupid. The problem is when we convince ourselves that we exist to be served.
• We are all needy. If you were to graph yourself at some point along a continuum (or get someone objective to do it for you), you’d see we are all pretty much in the same state. We all have needs, hurts, wants, desires. Yours may be different from mine. Fact is that we are not all that unique. Others may have things “better” than you do. Others are in far worse shape. Just be careful in adopting the philosophy that you are the Great I Am. You are one of a zillion or so people who want to be successful in that pursuit of happiness.
• I trust there are people who care deeply about you. Some days you may feel totally misunderstood (true of me MOST days), but while my emotions are jerking me around, I do know intellectually that I have loved ones aplenty. Relish that. And if you for real don’t have anyone who cares for you, (1) get a dog, and (2) invest yourself in a benevolent activity – volunteer at a homeless shelter, take cookies to the fire station, get immersed in the life of a church. I’m a total introvert, but I still need people. Truly. (OK, maybe I need them on my own terms. Another blog topic, perhaps.)
• As a companion thought to that last point – serve, serve, serve. This may sound simplistic, but you can sure broaden your worldview by giving yourself away to a cause bigger than you are. Your intent shouldn’t be to serve yourself by serving others – you serve others with no strings attached, feelings notwithstanding. (Although, I think it’s impossible to not achieve some degree of satisfaction when you help someone else. It’s a side benefit, and shouldn’t be your main motivation.)

Here’s what we collectively need to understand: Every one of us have reasons to be grateful. Whatever your state, no matter what life is piling on you, gratitude can still be the condition of your heart. 

We who live in the West have it all, if you want to think in material terms. You have stuff to eat. You have some clothes. You didn’t sleep outside involuntarily. With those three things, you’ve already positioned yourself ahead a sizable chunk of the world’s population.

But you knew that. You’ve heard variations on those simple facts all your life.

Don’t let me or anyone else “guilt” you into feeling bad because you aren’t as grateful as you think you should be.

Gratitude is a learned state.

We are born selfish. (I’m thinking about grandbabies right now – granddaughter Katherine learned to say “Mine!! … soon after birth.)

So don’t beat yourself up. Admit you’re selfish, and it’s hard to be grateful when you think you always need more than you have, whatever that may be.

Move on. Realize that in the grand cosmic scheme of things you are doing pretty doggone good. Take some time to simply be thankful. I’m not sure how I got started doing this, but every morning I journal what I’m grateful for. I do the same thing before bedtime. I don’t want to present myself as some sort of virtuous superhero, but I’ll tell you straight up being grateful changes me daily, and that’s a good thing. I’d wager it will fix you right up, too.

Finally, a word about supernatural blessings.

God blesses us all.

When we have a “me focus” instead of a “Him focus,” we find ourselves in that same awful place of discontentment. Realize that He blesses in ways you may never be aware of, and He does that constantly. He’s always at work. He never slumbers nor sleeps. You may not “feel” anything – but feelings, of course, can be great betrayers. Don’t depend on how you feel at any given point in time to determine the state of your heart.

So celebrate that heartbeat.

You have the capacity to move out of your own head and heart, and be just what someone else needs, even today. Watch for it. Opportunities abound. Just get over yourself.