Dream Awakener

Check out Part I Part II ,Part III , Part IV, and Part V of the series first. In part VI, we had an example of an amazing attitude, and Part VII, and Part VIII we started to look at how to have a thankful attitude, which we will continue to do in this final post of the series.

Engaging in the Discipline of Noticing
Another way to have a thankful attitude is to engage in the discipline of noticing. So many things are gifts that we often don’t see, because ingratitude leads to moral blindness. This is blindness to the goodness of being alive, the beauty of creation, the love of friends and the joy of work. It’s a blindness to the fact that life is basically good. The Psalmist said, “Praise the Lord, I tell myself; and never forget the good things he does for me.” (Ps 103:2 NLT_

I’m reminded of this true story. A father who repaired wash machines for a living was bitterly complaining to his wife that his daughter would not have a new pair of shoes to wear to Easter service. She would have to wear an old pair to church. That afternoon he was called to one of the finest homes in the city, and the people who lived there were very, very wealthy. As he fixed the wash machine, he complained to the lady of the house that his daughter was going to have to wear those same old pair of shoes for Easter.

The lady dashed out of the room sobbing. The husband came into the room and said, “I’ll explain my wife’s sorrow. We have a six-year-old daughter who will never walk. I would give my entire fortune and live in a mud hut, if I could hear the footsteps of my daughter walking down the hall, in those old shoes.” Are you thankful? Are you thankful?

There’s a sign inside a football stadium in the state of Texas that says, “I complained about having no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Have you forgotten how to be thankful?

Life is basically good. Tonight will end another day in which I have had eyes and ears to appreciate the beauty around me. Tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two? When you go to bed tonight, what do you say?

When God opens your eyes tomorrow morning and you are again given the gift of another day, what do you say? When you look into the face of somebody who knows and loves you and smiles at you, what do you say? When you eat something that tastes really good and you are so glad for the gift of taste, what do you say?

When you tell your hand to do something and your hand does it, what do you say? When you read a book and your mind is able to contemplate what you are reading and think, what do you say? When you look out the window and see all the beauty God has created, what do you say?

When you open the Scripture, God says to you, “I knit your body together in your mother’s womb before you were aware of anything, gave you the day of your birth, numbered the days of your life and counted the hair on your head.”

“I have given you the gift of friendships, the gift of a voice, the gift of the church and the gift of this Word where you can learn about me. Over and above all of that, I have given you the ultimate gift of my Son who went to the cross to pay a debt you could never pay.

When you read that God has given gift after gift after gift after gift to you, what do you say? (HT John Ortberg)

When we are thankful to God and others it shapes our attitude in positive ways So how is your attitude today? Your attitude will determine how much you enjoy life, how faithful you are to God and your relationships with others and God himself, so give thanks in all things.