Attitude of Gratitude

Psalm 100

When I woke up this morning, I smiled to myself!

Was it because we're getting our third Prime Minister this year? Nope!

Was it because it's half-term and I didn't have to do the school run in the rain? Nope!

Pathetic as it is, the smile arrived when I realised it was Tuesday, because Tuesday is Bake Off day. Don't worry, it's not another blog about the Great British Bake off, but it made me think of the simple things that often lift our day. I'm grateful for that hour and a half when I can switch off, watch people doing something they love, and dream of a tent full of cake…just for me!

What has made you smile this week?

I confess that I sometimes find it challenging to have an attitude of gratitude. It's not that I'm ungrateful; it's more that in challenging circumstances, my attempts to show gratitude feel insincere.

I imagine a pair of weighing scales.

On the one side, my words have weighed down the scale with prayers filled with worries and concerns. Something in me notices the imbalance, and out of guilt for my ingratitude, I start filling the other side of the scale with words of thanksgiving. There are psalms of lament that do a similar thing. The author pours out their pain and closes with a "but I know you are a good and faithful God" ending.

And God is good…

But I don't want my gratitude to come from a place where I am balancing the scale. I don't think God's idea of gratitude is for us to "count our blessings" to cancel out our pain. As the psalms have shown us, God wants us to feel and express the whole range of our emotions, but maybe now and then, gratitude needs its own dedicated time slot in our lives.

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"If there was ever a secret for unleashing God's powerful peace in a situation, it's developing a heart of true thanksgiving."

Lysa Terkeurst

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So, I'm stepping away from the trap of guilt-trip gratitude. Instead, like the psalmists, I'm dedicating time to wallow and indulge in gratitude.

Psalm 100 is my inspiration.

Psalm 100 (MSG)

1-2 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn’t make him. We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.

It may be helpful to lose yourself in a time of gratitude.

Write a psalm.

Listen to music.

Create a picture.

Go for a walk.

Do anything that fills your heart with thanksgiving and, in the spirit of the Great British Bake off, throw out the scales!

Kay Moorby