Recovery Attitudes GRATITUDE No matter how terrible you think your present situation may be, rest assured that more than 5 billion people would trade trade places with you in an instant! According to census data, the world world has an estimated population of near 6.8 billion people. Of these, 80 percent, or some 5.4 billion people, live on less than ten dollars a day. day. Two and a half billion people live on less than 2.5 dollars a day. Yes, the world can be a cruel and desperate place; even so, billions of people around the world would be will ing to trade their problems for yours sight unseen! Think about this these things the next time you feel like murmuring or complaining. The truth is we have almost every reason to give thanks and almost none to complain. Gratitude Defined
We define gratitude as a conscious way of living where one remains alert for opportunities opportunities of expressing exp ressing appreciation, thankfulness and praise to God and others for the people places places and things in their their lives. Grateful people realize that that every breath is a gift of the Lord and that all we have is a gift of His mercy and grace. A grateful person doesn’t take the kindnesses kindnesses of others for granted. They notice the little things as well as big things. Gratitude lives with eyes wide open and constantly says “Thank You!”
A grateful person has an awareness that blessings are everywhere around us. People without an attitude of gratitude take people places and things in their lives for granted. They hardly notice the great great abundance about about them. A grateful person person doesn’t need to be reminded of their blessings—they notice notice them as they occur. They live in amazement as they experience the rich blessings of family, friends, relationships, work, health and and spiritual blessings. And, as they experience these blessings, blessings, they cannot help but respond in thankfulness to their God and those about them. Gratitude is a new way of living
Imagine a new life based in gratitude. The first thing in the morning as you wake up and open your eyes, you thank God for protecting you during the night and blessing you with sleep. You thank God for the bed you slept in and the roof that covers your
head. As you bathe, you thank God for the the clean water and soap—so many people don’t have these things you know. know. As you put on your clothes, you thank God for the fact that you have clothes clothes to wear. You thank God for your education, education, work, and relationships. You thank God for the transportation transportation you have; and, as you travel to your first appointment of the day, you thank Him for the beauty that you see around you. You thank God for each person he brings before you during the day and you thank him for the acts of kindnesses that others show you as well as the acts that you can show to others. As you go to bed, you thank God for another day of care and blessings. blessings. There are three ways we may receive something.
Gratitude is an attitude we carry as we we receive God’s wonderful gifts. Sadly, many people go through life unaware unaware of the blessings God has given them. To hear them pray you’d think God never did a thing for them. They are always aware of needs that aren’t being met and focusing focusing upon what they don’t have. These people take much of their life for granted—never stopping stopping to say thank you. Like the ten lepers Jesus healed, only one of them returned to say thanks. thanks. The other nine were wrapped up in their own affairs. affairs. We can be like these people people as well. Others receive with arrogance. arrogance. They seem to expect good things to come their way. They blame God and act indignant indignant if their lives don’t go as they think it should. Their prayers, if they pray at all, instruct God about how He should best go about meeting their needs. It’s as if they see God as some coin operated being who should do as they ask; but, a grateful heart and arrogance cannot exist in the same place. The third way we can receive God’s blessings is with awareness and thankfulness. thankfulness. This is what God desires desires of us. He wants us to become become aware of the the care he bestows on each of us. As we become more aware, we marvel at the completeness of God’s love love for us. We stop taking things for for granted. We marvel at His nature and the people people places and things he brings brings before us. We feel blessed. We stop telling God how to bless us and start thanking him for what he’s done for us. Finding Gratitude in the Mundane
What could be be more mundane than than a daily cup of coffee? Yet, for every cup of coffee there are any number of people, places places and things that deserve our thanks. First we can thank God for the rain, rain, soil, plants, growing season and coffee crop. We should also give thanks for the people who grew and cultivated the coffee on the plantations and farms. And, we can give thanks for others who worked worked long and difficult hours to create a product product for us to enjoy. Further, we have untold thousands thousands of people to thank for complex system of transportation transportation that is to deliver our coffee to the store. Equally,
we should be thankful for the personal means of transportation we used to go and buy our coffee. Finally, we owe a debt of thanks to God, our family, an educational system and our employers for all the skills and f inances available to us that we might purchase our coffee. Yes, even in the mundane we have innumerable innumerable blessings to be mindful of. A grateful heart understands the power of contentment.
It lives in the realization that it doesn’t need people, places, or things to make it happy. Instead, it finds pleasure in whatever circumstances circumstances the Lord may bring. bring. As the Apostle Paul once said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” A grateful heart heart feels contentment because because it understands understands the great abundance of physical and spiritual blessings it has received from God in his mercy and grace. Gratitude is based in a healthy perspective.
It knows that everyone suffers trials; and, whatever trials we are going through, others have it worse—some much much worse. It understands that even when we feel fear, pain and anxiety, we can say, as Psalmist David did, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will wil l fear no evil—for thou art with w ith me.” Gratitude understands understands that we are never abandoned by God. Grateful hearts have little room for murmuring, complaining, or thoughts of victimization. Gratitude is based in optimism .
This optimism continues even when as we go through through strenuous trials. As a refiner’s fire makes gold more valuable and pure, so we too, become more fit and useful as we pass through our difficult difficult trials. Gratitude helps us understand understand that the things we once cursed and feared are the very things that make us s trong once we pass through the fire. Gratitude helps us us see God’s plan through our our pain and suffering. It realizes that what appears to be an unanswered prayer today may become one of our greatest blessings tomorrow. tomorrow. SCRIPTURE STUDY
PSALM 106:1 (NEW I NTERNAT NTERNATIONAL IONAL VERSION) Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6 (NEW IN TERNAT TERNATIONAL IONAL VERSION) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 (NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION) give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
_________________________ ____________________________________ _______________ ____ SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS Write your answers in the Space below. 1.
List five things these scriptures teach us about gratitude.
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Think of something you are anxious about and describe what God wants you to do— based upon these scriptures.
USE THE BACK OF THIS PAGE IF YOU NEED TO WRITE MORE. RECOVERY WISDOM If the only prayer you said in i n your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice . Meister Eckhart:
_________________________ ____________________________________ _______________ ____ WHAT DOES THIS SAYING MEAN TO YOU? GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW IT WORKS IN YOUR LIFE.
EXERCISES EXERCISES IN GRATITUDE
FIVE AND FIVE
Go back to the discussion about gratitude and highlight highlight 5 insights. Be ready to discuss them in group.
Write five of your own personal insights about gratitude and be ready to discuss them in gr oup. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5
FINDING GRATITUDE IN THE MUNDANE Refer back to the reading about Finding Gratitude in the Mundane. Think of an “ordinary blessing” that you are tempted to take for granted each day and explain the various aspects about it that we should be thankful Try and be detailed.
THE ROSARY A Catholic rosary is a string of beads or a knotted cord used to count prayers praye rs while the eyes are shut or in a meditative mood. Typically a rosary will have 59 beads that that are sectioned into 5 sets of 10 beads--leaving the remaining nine beads to hang hang down. The rosary can be a useful tool for counting blessings. Think about getting your own rosary—but for now—see if you can list 59 things you are grateful for. Try doing this exercise each day for a week.
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