Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents
Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls
Discipline of Gratitude
[Bible references: Psalm 118:1-29; 136:1-26; Philippians 4:4-8; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
“One of the most important—and most neglected—elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendor that is all around us.”[1]
But a true Christian experience would find, during some part of every day, the soul in a condition to love and praise God. To be in a praising state one must be in a most unselfish condition of mind; he must live relatively humble as before God; he must be sensitive to his obligations to God; he must have a faith that shall enable him to see God in the events which are transpiring about hi m. “a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow.”[2]
“Dr. Atkinson writes that scans show that when people share positive emotions there is a natural sync up process … research shows tremendous benefit to the one who is expressing gratitude, in the manner of it is better to give than to even receive.”[3]
“You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.” [4]
“Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the views they take of them.”[5]
Gratitude is the affirmation of the good things we have received from someone else. That feeling of gratitude results in the desire to either repay the giver or to pay forward to someone else with good things. Basic gratitude is a simple response to what we have received, but the spiritual discipline of gratitude is pro-active; it calls us to not depend on external circumstances but to train ourselves to intentionally look for reasons to be thankful in all situations; it calls us to pursue gratitude not just because it makes us feel good but because it is good for one’s family, community, and society. It is a virtue that is practiced, not just a feeling. The discipline of gratitude calls us to seek greater mindfulness and awareness, to be more present in the moment, to sharpen our powers of observation, to notice what others miss, to develop humility in recognition that the good in one’s life comes from outside the self, and to actively seek to reciprocate these gifts, returning goodness for goodness. Therefore, the goal of Gratefulness is to develop our ability to recognize and appreciate God’s provision.
The discipline of gratitude will be on guard against the various obstacles to feeling gratitude: our busyness and distraction, our ingrained penchant for noticing the negative over the positive, our tendency to adapt to the feelings of gratitude and allowing ourselves to become numbed to the reasons for our gratitude, and the possibility of feeling envy as we tend to compare what we have to what others have.
Counteracting those obstacles will require us to focus on things that will enhance our ability to keep alert, to see familiar things in a new way, to recognize the abundance of what we have rather than what we lack, to not forget all the good we have in our lives and to remember where it came from and how it made us feel.
[1] Merton, Thomas. No Man is an Island Mariner Books 2002 (pp. 33-34)
[2] Beecher, Henry Ward. The Life of H. W Beecher. Chapter 4. Plymouth Church (p. 77)
[3] Green, Barbara J. “Open your heart and focus on gratitude: Feel connection, share connection” BJgreenphd.com 2 Feb 2016 www.bjgreenphd.com/open-heart-focus-gratitude-feel-connection-share-connection
[4] Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning Beacon Press 2006
[5] Epictectus. Enchiridion. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Ed. Chapter 5 www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0237%3Atext%3Denc%3Achapter%3D5
Reflect
The marketing done in our consumer culture is designed to make us discontent, to make us desire things we don’t need. What desires are creating discontent in your life?
Observe
Read Psalm 136. This Psalm shows gratitude for what Yahweh had done for Israel in the past. Could you make a list of gratitude for what Yahweh has done in your life?
Dancing In The Kingdom 