Daily Encouragement: Day 326

Adapted from Handbook to Spiritual Growth

IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16–18)

We cannot give thanks and complain at the same time. To give thanks is to remember the spiritual and material blessings we have received and to be content with what our loving Lord provides, even when it does not correspond to what we had in mind. Gratitude is a choice, not merely a feeling, and it requires effort especially in difficult times. But the more we choose to live in the discipline of conscious thanksgiving, the more natural it becomes, and the more our eyes are opened to the little things throughout the course of the day that we previously overlooked.

I encourage you to make it a daily exercise, either at the beginning or the end of the day, to review God’s benefits in your past, present, and future. This discipline will be pleasing to God, because it will cultivate a heart of gratitude and ongoing thanksgiving.