A word to live by: Gratitude.

I've been working on my six words to live by.
So far, I've written about Compassion/Passion, Resolve, and Integrity.

Today, I'm thinking about gratitude.
It's such a powerful word.
It's more than simply being thankful for one event or blessing.

It is an attitude that should permeate every second of our lives.
It's an attitude of gratitude.

A thankfulness that flows out of the heart and examines every detail of our lives in the bright light of gratitude.

Gratitude is a first cousin once-removed from Grace.
Like grace, gratitude humbles us and helps us realize that "every good and perfect gift is from above..." (James 1:17.)

The best lesson I was ever taught on living with gratitude wasn't learned in a book or sermon.
It came from my lifelong friend Vance Gill. (I always tell my guitar-playing friend Vance that he is only one vowel from being famous.)

Vance related this: 'Once I had a water leak at my well. I spent all morning digging and repairing the pipe. As I knelt there in the mud, I just stopped and thanked God I had running water."

Now that is gratitude.
It's an attitude.
Thanks Vance for the lesson.

Like Vance, we're to look for the blessing in every event. Paul, who wrote from many a jail cell, said, "In every thing give thanks." (I Thess. 5:18)

Theologians are divided as to whether this means we're to be thankful for (seemingly) bad things or to maintain thankfulness in spite of our circumstances. (Did he mean "in everything" or "in every thing?")

I think they're both right.

Just like any good habit, living with gratitude takes practice.
I'm going to be practicing the art of thankfullness today.
Why don't you join me.

Thankfully,

Curt Iles