Thankful Attitude

As you think back to your youth, do you recall family mealtimes as positive? Contentious? Happy? Free-for-all? Uncomfortable because you didn’t like a lot that was served? On a related topic, when dining out, what makes you inclined to leave a generous tip? A not-so-generous tip?

Most people have a variable view of being generous. Sometimes we are happy to be generous toward others, and sometimes more reserved or even stingy. It may depend on the situation, or it may depend on our state of mind at the time.
In the Fifth chapter of First Thessalonians Paul gives us several important instructions for how we interact with other people:

Verse 12:  Acknowledge and thank those people in our life the care for us and provide direction in life. That may be the waiter or waitress at a restaurant. It may be a checker at a store, a police officer that confronts our unsafe driving, a co-worker, parent or sibling. Many people can impact our lives if we let them.
Verse 13: This verse tells us to live in peace with each other. That can be hard! Disagreements, bad days, defensiveness, a perceived lack of fairness can turn our peace into retaliation or harsh words. Think about what God’s response is.

Verse 14: This verse urges us to “warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” Even when we offer loving, constructive criticism we are to do it with compassion and patience.
Verse 15: “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” This can be both challenging and at the same time a blessing.

The next three verses are short and self-explanatory:
Verse 16: Rejoice always
Verse 17: Pray continually
Verse 18: Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

4832 Ponderings:

• Paul says to give thanks in all circumstances. That can be challenging! How is it possible?
• If you are not thankful, does that make you unappreciative?
• Can we be thankful for something and not like it at the same time?
• How might our outlook on life improve as we take Paul’s instruction to heart?

Successful author, Neil Pasricha, in his book The Book of Awesome, helps us consider and appreciate all the “awesome things” we experience in life, such as:

• Popping Bubble Wrap
• Wearing clothing just out of the dryer
• Fixing electronics by smacking them
• Getting your table called up to the dinner buffet first at a wedding
• Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row
• Waking up and realizing its Saturday

How do these things make you feel? Think about some of the things for which you can be thankful.

Closing Prayer: 
Dear Lord, we join the whole earth as we shout for joy!  We worship You with gladness as we come before You with joyful songs of praise and thanksgiving! God, we know that You made us, and we are Yours. We are the Sheep of Your pasture. We thank You that we may enter into Your gates with thanksgiving, and Your courts with praise and thanksgiving! You are good…and Your love endures forever. Your faithfulness continues through all generations, and for that we say, “thank you!”  Amen.  Adapted from Psalm 100:1-5

Pasricha, Neil. The Book of Awesome. G.P. Putnam's Sons, an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016.