“Spending today complaining about yesterday won’t make tomorrow any better.” ~Unknown
I’ve been learning a great deal lately about fear and stress. I recently wrote about the physical and mental health effects of stress on my nutrition site. And I’ve written on this site about my husband’s PTSD, and how that affects him and our family.
Thankfulness and Stress
As I mentioned in my nutrition post, taking control of our thoughts is critical to overcoming fear, stress, and anxiety. Attempts to scold ourselves out of negative thoughts and emotions – appeals to reason about the frivolity and unhelpfulness of fear, stress, and anxiety – rarely if ever succeed. But training the mind in thankfulness has helped countless captives escape the dark prison of their mind.
Sometimes I am amused when science “discovers” something God has been telling us from the beginning. And even setting the scriptures aside, the benefits of thanksgiving are hardly a new find. Writers, philosophers, and psychologists have been recommending gratitude for centuries.
But recent studies now prove that gratitude improves physical and mental health, benefits sleep and relationships, and boosts self-esteem. And researchers have also determined both complaining and thankfulness create a sort of neural “rut” in our brains which results in a default outlook on life, determining our reactions to life’s ups and downs.
Choosing a Rut
So, I have some choices to make . . . What kind of a rut do I prefer? And what if I want to be thankful, but I am already a chronic complainer?
Well, I decided to go right to the original source and see what God has to say about thankfulness.
One of the first things I noticed is the English words Thank, Thanksgiving, Thankfulness, and Give Thanks are used a lot, and are almost always directed toward God. Gratitude and Gratefulness are used only a few times, and always in relation to other humans. Of course this varies with different translations, but not much.
I’m sure Hebrew and Greek scholars could shed some light on this, but the use of “thanks” seems to be an action which implies dependence, while “gratitude” seems to be more of a feeling of appreciation. So, it seems to me that God, as the author of all life and architect of human history, should be the recipient of all thanksgiving. We may express gratitude to people who bless our lives, but ultimately God gets the credit even for those.
Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Phil. 1:3
Praise the LORD! I will thank the LORD with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. Psa 111:1
But, what if life is not going my way? What if things are downright bad? What if I have no friends or family – I am a victim – I am in a painful situation – I have nothing good to be thankful for?
Regardless of our circumstances, I think the instruction for thankfulness still stands:
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph 5:20
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Phl 4:6
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1Th 5:18
My Thankfulness Plan
I’ve created a little roadmap I’ve been using to help kick-off the activity of thanksgiving. I’ll share it with you, for what it’s worth.
It starts with what is always true, no matter what bad thing is going on.
- Simply thank God for who He is:
O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 1Ch 29:13
Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and ever, praising your greatness from generation to generation. Psa 79:13
- Thank God for who you are:
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous–how well I know it. Psa 139:14
- And for his creation:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psa 19:1
- And for His salvation which is already yours:
But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Co 15:57
Moving to the future, thank God for what he is going to do in your life . . . for rescue and answered prayer:
Cry out, “Save us, O God of our salvation! Gather and rescue us from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you.” 1Ch 16:35
Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the LORD. … I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory! Psa 118:19, 21
. . . for His plan and guidance:
I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded. Dan 2:23
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 1Tim 1:12
…for His faithful love:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who placed the earth among the waters. His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights–His faithful love endures forever.
Psa 136:1-7
Why Thank God?
No matter where life takes us, and whether we approve or disapprove of the neighborhood, I believe practicing this discipline of thankfulness has the power to change our outlook and way of thinking.
I’ve started working through these thanksgiving basics every morning, and I can usually add quite a few more blessings I am thankful for! As a result, I more quickly hand over my concerns to God and thank Him for His power and love and direction over difficulties . . . and I notice more of the little blessings along the way which I would normally miss or take for granted.
Giving thanks to God might not transform your life and solve all your problems . . . but then again, it might! Couldn’t hurt to try!
