Thank you God
Among the first prayers my daughter lisped at her Nursery school was “Thank you God, for the food we eat, Thank you God, for the lovely treat.” As we laughed over her cute lisp, I often felt ashamed at how rarely I thanked God for the blessings that flowed so freely through my life.
Look At The Positive Side
Helen Keller was born blind, deaf and dumb—locked in a soundless, sightless world. It was only when her teacher taught her sign language that she acquired the gift of communication. Despite all her hardships, Helen Keller found it in her heart to say, “I thank you God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.”
All of us are blessed with gifts which are bestowed and those which we rarely acknowledge. The very gift of life is so very precious—this is something we acknowledge only when we are faced with imminent death—either our own or that of loved ones.
The gift of good health is again something we value only when the gift is in the most danger of being taken away. We, who have faith in God, most often assume the role of supplicants—we constantly appeal to God—we ask for material things, for our fondest wishes to be fulfilled, for success and good health . . . the list of applications we send to God is endless but we forget to say “Thank you God!” That is very sad indeed.
Power of Everyday Practice
I would like to share a practice which my late, God-fearing mother followed. As she steered her immediate and extended family through difficult times, we often teased her about her prolonged morning prayers and shorter evening prayers.
Grow flowers of gratitude in the soil of prayer.
She would respond to our teasing saying her morning prayers were applications to God for the well-being of her loved ones while her evening prayers were prayers of thanks to God for all the blessings we enjoyed. Her gratitude to God was freely and sincerely expressed mainly because her faith in God was unshakable.
Religions Show the Way
Many cultures have specific rituals associated with giving thanks. Almost all religions have prayers to bless the food before meal times. The Jewish festival of Passover and the American Thanksgiving festival specifically give thanks to God for His abundance and for the safety of His children. There are many Hindu prayers which express gratitude to God for the gifts of Nature which sustain life.
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you’? ~ Dr. William Arthur Ward (Tweet this)
An attitude of gratitude is not easy to cultivate. We focus so much on the empty spaces in our lives that we fail to acknowledge the gifts with which God has filled our lives. When you think about it, the very fact you are living and breathing on Earth—on this tiny speck of the infinite Universe—is a miracle.
The sunlight, the air we breathe, the infinite variety of living and nonliving things we are surrounded with, the facility for reasoning, recall and feeling—are they not precious gifts?
Scientific Research Recommends Thanksgiving
Social scientists have researched the beneficial effects of gratitude. When we express thanks for the good things we enjoy, we open our minds to the positives in life.
Gratitude reinforces our belief in positivity. In expressing our thanks to the Supreme Being we acknowledge that the positives in life far outweigh the negative. From this feeling, we derive the strength to live and face another day.
Time to Put it To Practice
On a more basic level, each one of us can start preparing a “THANK YOU GOD” list. The gifts of life, the small and big kindnesses shown to us, the small and big miracles which fill our lives—truly the list is endless.
If you were to compose a message of thanks to your Maker, what would you fill it with?
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