Intentionally Thankful

Last Wednesday I wrote about how I always find myself slipping into complaining. I still don't haven't come up with an answer on how to combat that. I know the best way to avoid complaining is to be consciously thankful. But how do you remember to be consciously thankful. I think, at least at the start, it means being intentionally thankful. I was torn about this because I felt like in order for my thankfulness to genuine, it shouldn't be intentional. It should be spontaneous. I shouldn't have to say, "Okay, when I wake up in the morning I need to think of five things for which I'm thankful" and write a note to remind myself. It shouldn't take practice.

I realized I was wrong. Because it is not a part of human nature to rejoice. If we are living for ourselves, then we have joy only in the betterment of ourselves. If we are living for ourselves, it is not enough to have a job, we must have the best, highest-paying job. Thankfulness for the Christian, comes from the realization that apart from God we deserve nothing. Every thing we have is a gift from Him. Paul commands us to "rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."
It is not natural to be thankful, and things that are not natural take practice. The dictionary defines to practice as "to do or perform often, customarily, or habitually." It takes a minimum of thirty days of intentionally completing an activity for it to become a habit. So today, I will write a note on my chalkboard reminding myself to be intentionally thankful. I will write it on post-its and put them around my house, in my Bible, my Kindle wherever I can think of that I may need a reminder. I will start a list of things for which I am thankful because writing it down helps to make it stick.

I am thankful for . . .

1 . . . rain that waters the lilies in our garden.

2 . . . shoes on my feet.

3 . . . my raincoat.

4 . . . my job.

Keep on singing,