Gratitude Produces Lasting Joy When Focused on the Giver Above the Gift

Are you ready for thankfulness season? 

Or, are you struggling to find something in life for which you are grateful?  Does everything seem too hard and bleak?

Every November your social media feeds blow up with people expressing gratitude for the good things in life.  This is such a worthy practice. Yet, as we watch those around us celebrating we can have two tendencies.  

1. We join in with gratitude for all the good things in our lives!
2. We feel hopeless and defeated because we don’t see much good in our lives.

The holidays can bring a simultaneous joy and sorrow.  You are normal and OK if your emotions and feelings are conflicted!  Suffering co-exists with good. And walking this line can be exhausting.  

I want to lift you up by way of encouragement, no matter whether you find yourself giddily embracing fall dressed in your coziest sweater sipping your PSL by the fire, or whether you find yourself so depressed getting out of bed is impossible.

Jesus’ brother James tells us, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers (and sisters).  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:16-17, ESV)

Remember that all our good and perfect gifts in life come from God.

Satan never created one pleasure.  God crafted all things for our good and His glory.   Jonathan Edwards once said, “God created man for nothing else but happiness.  He created him only that he might communicate happiness to him.” {1}

Everyday acts of worship include thanking God for these gifts!

I’m thankful for the reminder November brings every year to be grateful and thank God for the gifts He gives. We so easily get caught up in the day-to-day rhythm of life that we miss the good, and we definitely fail to thank Him for His gifts to us.

Our God is more wonderful than His gifts.

If you are anything like me, your gratitude practice typically focuses only on the good gifts in life rather than the Giver of life.

Let’s turn that around this year.  As you focus on gratitude and thanksgiving this November, spend time looking to God and His character!

Our ultimate good is not the wonderful things available to us: family, friends, pumpkin-spice lattes, sweaters, a crispness in the air, caramel apples, fireplaces, and snuggly blankets.  We would be wrong to miss lifting these blessings to God in praise. Yet, we are even further a miss when we fail to see Him for who He is.  

When we focus our gratitude on the good gifts in our lives, we make ourselves the center of our joy.  Then, our ability to be thankful depends on whether we perceive there to be good in our lives.  

If you want to be consumed with joy and gratitude, you must lift your eyes to the greatest beauty and splendor {2}.  

Do this not only by spending daily time seeking God through His Word, but also by adoring Him for who He is!

Adore God!

Adoration is very different than thanksgiving, yet is the key to our joy.

Thanksgiving focuses on things and events.  We write thank-you cards for people who have given or done something for us.  We feel grateful for their efforts.

Adoration happens in the context of relationship when we are consumed by the wonder of the other.  

Allow yourself to lay aside the WONDERFUL things He has done for you, and focus purely on who God is.  Delight your soul in Him this November. Focus on the Giver, not the gifts.

Let’s get practical.

We must know God if we want to adore Him.

Adoration of God is outside the usual realm of prayer and our thoughts.  We can do gratefulness and thanksgiving any time, because we understand earth and life here and what good things look like.  But, if we wish to express our gratitude for WHO God is, we must learn about His nature.

To help you, here are a few websites that give some of the attributes and character of God.  May they fuel your joy.

• 15 Amazing Attributes of God: What They Mean and Why They Matter
• God :: The Attributes of God
• Guide to the Attributes of God

Have concrete reminders to help you remember to adore God.

I find it helpful to have a system reminding me of my need to spend time adoring God.  So, I created Rejoice Always:  A 100 Day Gratitude Journal to help my own heart see and savor God while choosing joy in diverse circumstances.