I want to continue with gratitude as we approach Thanksgiving this week. (Unlike the previous one, I promise this one will be short and sweet.) Last week, I talked (extensively) about what gratitude can do for us. Still, this week, I want to explore the benefits of gratitude in our relationships, particularly in our relationship with the Lord.
Did you know gratitude opens up the parts of our brain that create and facilitate relational connections? I was listening to Renaut van der Riet teach on II Timothy, and he shared that we can connect with others relationally the most when we feel gratitude towards that person.
If that is true for our relationships with people, how much more true is it for our relationship with the God who created us to have a relationship with Him? Psalm 100 calls us to “enter His gates with thanksgiving.” I have read that hundreds of times, and I haven’t thought much of it more than, “of course I’ll be thankful when I enter into His gates.” But it is so much richer than that! If gratitude opens my mind to create meaningful relationships with humans, how much more connected will I feel to my Heavenly Father if I come to Him grateful for all He has done for me?
That slays me.
And it is so true. As I have learned to come to God with a mouth of thankfulness and a heart of gratitude, my relationship with Him has deepened exponentially.
This is also true for my relationships here. As I have chosen to hold each relationship with open hands and a heart full of gratitude, I have found that my love is so much deeper and more empathetic, forgiving, and grace-filled.
I think having an “attitude of gratitude” has changed me the most, and I am so thankful. SoT, as I enter this week set aside for Thanksgiving, I want to sit in thankfulness, but I want to make sure that as the emotion of thankfulness fades and as the temporary emotional response to a temporary circumstance disappears, my overwhelming feeling of gratitude and appreciation for all God has for me in the good and the bad will be timeless.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Kanakuk. May you hold your loved ones closer than you have before. May you be grateful for your relationships and overwhelmed with inexpressible gratitude for God and all He has done for you.
