By Jeremiah Model
I have always been a thankful person as long as I could remember, but it was not until my encounter with the G-D of Heaven and Earth Jesus that I personally understood what it means to be thankful every single day.
Unfortunately the last three months I have lost two very close friends. Without a chance for me to say goodbye , these two events really opened my eyes to what it is to be filled with gratitude and to give thanks all the time and that there is no contract with life.
I have started a routine called a gratitude list. There I list anywhere from 10 to 25 things that I am thankful for in the mornings and at night. I am going to be honest sometimes I do not do it because I forget and I notice that the days I do my mood is a lot better from the periods when I don’t do it.
I model this after a prayer that religious jews say every morning called “Modeh Ani” which means thanking God for life. This prayer is recited first thing in the morning upon arising. I find it fascinating to adopt this practice in your daily life.
The field of positive psychology has done a lot of research on gratitude lately, most if not all studies have shown that people that express gratitude are more willing to help others, are clearer thinkers, have happier thoughts and moods throughout the day.
A few other studies showed that people who have dealt with forms of depression have had significant better results after implicating gratitude in their daily lives. I find it that gratitude has helped me see people as brothers and sisters, not enemies, as valuable and useful not useless and disposable.
An attitude of gratitude has helped me see passed pains as training grounds rather than ruts and quick sand, it has helped me to live in the now mindfully rather than in distant future fearfully.
Living in gratitude has fostered me to increase help for those that cannot help themselves. It has helped me for forgive those that I thought would be impossible to forgive. Gratitude has help me heal autoimmune disease in my body, arthritis being one of them.
Gratitude has helped me want to take care of my body, soul and spirit every single day. So everyday when I love myself in the mirror and I give myself a pep talk I am reiterating what I am thankful and gracious for. And who I am going to infect with gratitude. An attitude of gratitude is the greatest of all emotions.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
GODLY WORDS MINISTRIES 