What is gratitude and how am I supposed to apply it? Let’s take a few minutes to define gratitude. Then, you and I can apply it to our individual lives.
Gratitude Defined
We must know what gratitude is, in order to do anything iwth it. Gratitude is “the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful” with the synonyms being “thanks, thankfulness, appreciation, gratefulness” (dictionary.com).
Gratitude Applied
So, how do you and I apply this word that carries the nature of thankfulness and appreciation? There’s no easy turn on switch. It’s a lifestyle change that involves God!
- Study Scripture that will change your heart and attitude. The word gratitude is not in the Bible. { I read and reference books that use many translations, but I use the King James Version when reading or memorizing the Bible.} However there are words in the Bible that carry the same meaning of gratitude. Those will be the words that we can study and meditate upon. This is more than just skimming through them, which I’ve done plenty of.
- Meditate upon the Scripture you’ve studied. Choose a selection of Scripture, whether it be one verse or several within one passage. Read them over and over, allowing them to soak into our minds and hearts.
- Recall those verses in times of need. You may wish to carry the verses around with you in your pocket. The Holy Spirit does a fine job of recalling Scripture to us at the perfect time, but you have to be listening. You can then apply the Scripture and attitude of gratitude to the situation at hand, instead of grumbling.
To summarize, you must study, meditate and recall Scripture in order for you to have that lasting change of mind and heart.
There is a list of Scripture I’ve already read through that I want to study further and meditate upon. I really want to stop being negative and start seeing life through gratitude goggles.
How about you? Is your gratitude showing? Or could you stand to have an attitude check? Or is your word (or goals) something entirely different? Tell me! Let’s encourage one another as we change our lives and attitudes for the better!
My gratitude is definitely showing!! I absolutely needed to read something like this, thank you for sharing!!
I give gratitude in many different way. I don’t know if there really is a few ways to show it.
Tamara, I love the idea of your one-word focus for 2014! And what better one than Gratitude. The phrase that came to mind was a line from one of the songs I love, “Give thanks with a grateful heart to Jesus Christ the King…” Your message today was such a good reminder. And the list of scriptures helped. I printed them out. Thanks again, Tamara, for inviting us into your world and focusing our minds on the blessings we have.
Gratitude is so important. What a great post.
I firmly believe that gratitude is one of the most important things we can do in life to bring about positive changes. I’ve witnessed it so many times. You just have to be grateful!
Yes, I think my gratitude is showing… if this is what I want to achieve
I’m grateful for every part of my life, and I’m sure to let my maker know. I’m safe and warm, well fed and clothed unlike so many others in the world.
What a refreshing blog post. Gratitude is so important for us all. Especially gratitud towards God. And you are so right, we can’t always carry the Bible with us. But our mind is everywhere where we go, and if we remember the scriptures by heart, we will always have them with us. God bless!
Love this post, and definitely needed to see it. Probably should pass it on the my hubby too 🙂
I have to say that I make an effort to show my gratitude on a regular basis. I have sooooo much to be thankful for each and everyday. Always a good reminder!! thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for the reminder – I need to spend more time with my Bible. I would love to be able to retrieve scripture from my brain when I need it most.
~ Kimberly
My gratitude isn’t always showing, but I do try to remember on a daily basis how blessed I really am. That puts me in the right spirit.
Often times, we forget to count our blessings and the things we don’t have instead of counting the blessings on what we do have. We have to take a step back, and be aware of that. At the end of the day, someone usually has it worst than us and we need to be grateful for what we have. Thanks for the post!
Everyone else has probably already thought of this and I am just behind. LOL But the word other than the first letter all of the word GRATITUDE is “ATITUDE”. No it isn’t spelled exactly right but it says the same thing. And that’s what gratitude is, isn’t it, and “attitude” of appreciation and thankfulness.