Be Thankful

Occasionally in life I focus too much on things that are not going right. When this happens my prayer life centers around those things going wrong and I find myself praying for all the bad stuff to go away. As a result a cloud of negativity hovers around me, even though I tend to be and still act very upbeat.

When the negativity hangs around a bit too much I begin realizing that I have been focusing too much on what is going wrong. And when this happens I know that I need to start being more thankful for what I do have.

In these funky moods I am usually not too keen on looking for things to be thankful about. My feelings want me to hang out with the negativity, with the things that aren't going well, because after all, just being thankful for other things does not solve my problems.

Even though my emotions want to hang out with the negative feelings, I do find it necessary to redirect my thoughts and look for things I am thankful about. My emotions don't follow me on this, so my thankfulness starts out hollow. But as I find more and more events and people and stuff to be thankful for, the cloud of negativity lifts and even though my problems don't disappear, they don't seem so scary anymore.

So when you pray, follow me on this. From time to time - maybe once a week or so, don't ask God for anything for at least 20 minutes. Instead, thank Him for things.

SCRIPTURE FOR THOUGHT

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (Philippians 4:6).

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts... And always be thankful (Colossians 3:15).