I have written about the many benefits of gratitude. A thankful heart makes it possible for us to get through some very rough times. I didn’t begin to recover from the death of my wife until I stopped mourning the fact that she was no longer with me and began to be so very thankful that she was in my life for 54 years; nearly 51 of those years as my wife, soul mate, partner and constant companion.
Preachers love to exhort their flock to have an “attitude of gratitude”. There are countless passages of scripture to support such a message. I just quoted Philippians 4:6 in my last blog post about trading worry for prayer. It is no coincidence that verse concludes, “…and thank God for all he has done for you.” It is natural for Christians to turn to prayer in troubled times, but to stop worrying requires us to concentrate on what God has already done for us and then trust that He won’t let us down this time.
When I was a boy we used to sing, “Count your blessings see what God has done. Count your blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” That surprise comes because many of God’s blessings to us are embedded in our everyday life. We take them for granted without stopping to think about them or who placed them in our life. Close your eyes and try to think of three ways God has blessed you for which you have never thanked Him. If you are having trouble finding those hidden blessings, this story a friend shared with me recently might help.
A 93 year old man in an Italian hospital recovered from COVID-19. Upon discharge he was presented with a bill, which included the cost of using a ventilator for one day. The old man began to cry and his doctor told him not to cry over the bill. What the old man said next brought tears to his doctor’s eyes. “I am not crying over the money I owe. I have money to pay it all. It is just that I have been breathing God’s air for 93 years and it never cost me a thing. Now I see how much just one day breathing on a ventilator in your hospital costs. I realize now how much I owe God and I have never even thanked Him.”