“Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion.
Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception.
Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.
Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and
limps along the
spiritual road.”
John Henry Jowett
The greatest virtues of life are the concepts
that add meaning to life and offer to others the real you. Giving
thanks looks without oneself to acknowledge the grace someone has seen fit to
offer you. God offers us the experience
of love and fellowship with others if we are willing to allow life to challenge
you with the risk to enjoy companionship.
Thanksgiving, giving thanks, making
gratitude a priority, can you see that as a virtue? Will you go limping along life’s spiritual
road maimed and fumbling with no sure way?
God has given us the model of His only Son to help us experience the
grandeur of friendship, brotherhood, comfort and fellowship. Thanksgiving is an experience that is meant
for knowing and expressing the best of life.
Giving thanks allows someone to joy in the pleasant things that you
enjoy. God has connected us that
way. Accepting thanks is a way of being
humble and strong enough to help another human-being, life resonates between us
that way. And you say, “Your are welcome”,
because grace demands a response.
Living a life without thanksgiving leaves
too much time to think about what is wrong and not enough time for the
consideration of what is already right, good and pleasant. The life of a person of passion will be
filled up like an inflated balloon offering joy to the little child who
receives it but the life lacking thanks will be flat and miss out on the joy of
a refreshing attitude. We like the
company of someone who will offer words that lift us up, not miss the pleasant
things in life and will never ever ignore the opportunity to say, “Thank You
very much.” Be that person and allow
others to be refreshed in your acquaintance.
Looking up to say thanks offers a
refreshing gift to God one that will return an excellent attitude and rebound
in a certain refreshing of yourself.
That is why Thanksgiving is offered in Scripture to those who believe.
I
will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the
LORD. ( NLT Psalm 116:17)
Offering a praise to the Lord
cannot be done without reflecting on the blessings that God’s grace has
brought. When we muse on the good that
we have experienced, we take in spiritual oxygen and enrich our soul, try it
today. The believer in God above must think positively upon the world in which we live and find where in this life can I look to be thankful.
Are
you living with real love and a passion for life?
Do you have a
hope that is lined with fine perception?
Does your
faith have strength and fortitude?
Try making it a point to say,
“Thank you very much” to someone and wait for the happy response you will
receive. Try it several times because ‘Thanks’
is becoming a rare expression to our broader society. You will probably surprise the person you are addressing. Try a life of thanks and God’s gracious
response will fill you up so that return of being welcomed and free will
refresh you, creating another experience
to look to and know that refreshing the soul really begins with you.
Happy,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Chaplain Horace E. Cutter
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