thankfulness

Gratitude

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Gratefulness…appreciation…recognition…acknowledgment…thankfulness.  Expressing gratitude is one sure way of changing your perspective.  It focuses your attention on that which has been given to you rather than what you think you are missing.  If you are looking for a way to make a change in your life, start with gratitude and give thanks to God and His Son Jesus Christ for all that has been done for you.  Amen.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in September of 2016 on a lake in central Minnesota)

Give Thanks and Praise

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It is crazy how quickly the attetntion of so many people is distracted.  Today’s world is filled with so much information and so much more incorrect information that it is easy to get derailed or side tracked.  We need to be able to be centered on something or someone to keep us level headed and not chasing every feeling and emotion as if we are the center of the universe.  God knows everything about us.  I did a brief exercise this morning that I read about in one of my devotionals today…think about your last 24 hours…God knows about every single thing and every single thought you have experienced…yes even that one…now think about the fact that this is true about every single thing and thought in your life…and after all that realize that right now, knowing all those things, God forgives you and God loves you the same today as He did the day you were born.  To show you how much He loves and cares for you He sent His Son to take the punishment that we all deserve so that we can still have a relationship with Him.  Give thanks and praise to God our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

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“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:4-7

(This photo was taken in  August of 2016 in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington)

Be Thankful

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There is significant power in gratitude.  It is one of the forces that can truly impact our perspective.  The attitude of gratitude drives us to reflect and reconsider, it encourages a  shift in focus on what is good, instead of what is wrong.  It leads us to look for solutions, instead of problems.  It helps us give thanks instead of complaining.  Most importantly it takes the focus off of the self and the sinful nature within all of us.  All that is good in our lives is from God, everything else is because of sin and selfishness, in us and in others.  “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  His love endures forever.”  (Psalm 136:1)  Amen.

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“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.”

Colossians 3:15

(This photo was taken in October of 2018 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

God Came Down

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The coming of Jesus Christ, to be born as a baby here on earth was miraculous for many reasons.  The most difficult part to comprehend is that God, the Creator of the world, the beginning and the end of all things, loves us so much that He took the form of one of us, to save us from our sinful ways.  When we read in the bible about the people of God in the Old Testament, it seems like the people and God go back and forth.  The people are suffering, God does something to help them, win a battle, defeat an enemy, free them from slavery and the people are thankful and grow closer to God…and then time goes by and they wander off again.  The cycle repeats itself several times…much like many of us in our faith journey.  In the New Testament, God changes the cycle and does something that has changed the relationship we have with Him forever.  God came down from heaven and became like us in order to reconcile us to Him…think about that for awhile…the Almighty God, Creator of all things came down from heaven to become one of us because He loves us.  As we think about the past year and the year to come, I pray we reflect on God’s love and the amazing things He has done for us.  Amen.

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“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100:5

(This photo was taken in October of 2018 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

Thanksgiving

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What are you thankful for?  Think about the last week of your life, the last month, the last 12 months.  Where were you or what was going on last Thanksgiving?  Are you able to be with or spend the day with the same people you have for many years or have some gone home to the Lord?  Thinking about the events and people in your life…who or what are you most thankful for?  How you view this day and your life in general is driven by your attitude.  If you want to be more thankful or have a more positive outlook on a daily basis, start each day with time for gratitude for what is good and what you are grateful and thankful for in your life.  We can all start with prayer and thanking God for the sacrifice of His Son to save us.  Happy Thanksgiving Day to you.  May we all experience the peace, love and joy of being thankful.  Amen.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 by our daughter while on a family road trip near Dillon, Colorado)

Gratitude

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A key element in shaping our perspective is gratitude.  Being thankful, looking around at your life and recognizing the ways God has blessed you.  We must be careful not to judge a blessing based on the world’s view of us or our life.  God has promised to give us what we need, not fulfill all our wants and not to give us everything that will make us feel better compared to someone else.  We are each unique, created out of love and blessed to be a blessing.  We have already received the greatest gift we could ever receive from Jesus Christ, it is up to us to turn towards Him and give Him thanks.  May the peace and joy of the Lord be with you.

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“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in you hearts to God.”

Colossians 3:15-16

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado)

Gratitude

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One of the difficult challenges in life is adjusting your perspective.  We receive so many messages through our senses from our daily life.  Things we see, things we hear, things we read, etc.  We get to choose what things get our time and attention.  Whatever we focus on becomes embedded in our perspective.  When we spend too much time on negativity, sadness, anger, selfishness and hatred we adopt that point of view to everything else.  This is the way of living focused on self.  We will always end up disappointed.  We need to find ways to build in positive things, goodness, kindness, joy and love.  These things will help us live with a balanced perspective.  One easy way to start is to practice gratitude.  What are you thankful for?  It may not come easy at first if you haven’t done this very often.  Think about the very basics in life like food, shelter and clothing…don’t take such things for granted as these are not in abundance for everyone in the world.  Once you start practicing gratitude and you want to build on it, the next thing is giving…the joy, peace and contentment will continue to build in your life from there.  Find your gratitude things and give thanks to God for all of it.  May God’s joy and peace be with you.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in March of 2018 while traveling through southern New Mexico)

Be Thankful

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As I continue along my faith journey I am often reminded in different ways to remember to be thankful.  When we look carefully at what blessings and gifts God has already provided we realize that we take so much for granted in our daily lives.  Always concerned with others and what we don’t have or what we want next…it seems to be big part of human nature.  If we take time every day to reflect on and give thanks for what we are grateful for it will help shape our perspective for the rest of the day.  Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever.  For inspiration I recommend listening to the song of praise entitled Forever – by Chris Tomlin.  May God’s peace be with you.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in March of 2018 while driving through New Mexico)

Start With Gratitude

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When you find yourself spending too much time in worry and fear it is time to change your perspective.  Nothing else will change for you in your life if you don’t start by assessing yourself.  Look around your life and assess where you are from a basic needs point of view…take note of things or people you may be or may have been taking for granted and be thankful for them.  Instead of starting each day with negativity of “now what?” or “what is going to go wrong next?”…change your thought process.  “I am so thankful for this person” or “I am grateful I have food” and eventually you will notice a change in attitude.  Try it for 30 days…see what happens and take time to pray about it.  God provides everything we need not everything we want or think we need.  May God’s peace be with you.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in December of 2013 in northwestern Wisconsin)