Seven-Day Practical Faith Blog: Choose the Path of Gratitude

Have you heard a sermon on gratitude yet in this Thanksgiving season? I've heard two so far, with more to come!

I wanted to present a different way to think about gratitude, so I turned to Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth's excellent book, "Choosing Gratitude." Wolgemuth sets up several comparisons between gratitude and ingratitude. I thought we could use these as a self-quiz to understand where we are focused on gratitude and where we stumble into ingratitude.

• A grateful person is a humble person, while ingratitude reveals a proud heart.

• A grateful heart is God-centered and others-conscious, while an ungrateful person is self-centered and self-conscious.

• A grateful heart is a full heart, while an unthankful heart is an empty one.

• A grateful heart will be revealed and expressed by thankful words, while an unthankful heart will manifest itself in murmuring and complaining.

• People with grateful hearts are easily contented, while ungrateful people are subject to bitterness and discontent.

You know, I was sailing along, checking the grateful boxes, and then I hit the last two statements. If I'm honest, I might let myself get dragged down into murmuring, complaining, bitterness, and discontent more often than I should.

Wolgemuth writes that, in her experience, a failure to be thankful leads to a pervasive sense of "blues and blahness." She says when we're ungrateful, we might make demands and retaliate emotionally. Her view is both ingratitude and gratitude can become contagious to those around us.

Let us renew our desire to be contagious in the right way. Let's reestablish thankful hearts this November and keep the momentum even when December's detailed busyness drags us down. Let us emphasize gratitude in our seven-day practical faith journeys.

I'm grateful for all my followers, and I would even be more grateful if you would engage more with my ministry. Check out everything I offer at CecilTaylorMinistries. com, from podcasts to products, tools, and speaking services. While there, make sure to register for my monthly newsletters, Ministry Connection and Backstage Pass.