Hey Y’all!
It’s not thanksgiving, but it’s probably going to be here before we know it if we’re quite honest. BUT, I want to talk about being thankful and grateful daily. Sometimes I wonder why some people wait until November to take each day to list something they’re thankful for. What about the other 11 months in the year? My life was not one of sunshine and rainbows everyday but at this point I learned to always find something to be grateful for. It’s like the silver lining in life. It shifts your focus from everything negative to the Lord. You can live being grateful everyday. If you learn how to do it daily, then no matter what’s going on in your life or the world, it won’t shake you because you’ve fixed your eyes on the Lord through your thankful and grateful attitude. However, there is actually a difference between being grateful and thankful. So let me teach you…
Thankful
So the definition of thankful is to be conscious of the benefit received, pleased, and expressed relief. Thankfulness is more about being aware of what you’ve received in a sense. Salvation is by far the best example. I don’t know about you, but I am extremely relieved that Jesus came and that I get to go to Heaven. Not going to hell and knowing that I could choose especially, that’s relieving. Just imagine if we had no choice and the good option isn’t what we were afforded so knowing that’s not the life we live creates a sense of relief.
Someone in the Bible who was a true example of being thankful was David. If you read Psalms, I Samuel, and II Samuel, you read countless songs of thanksgiving David wrote. Knowing what thankful means, it makes sense as to why David wrote so many songs about thankfulness. It’s because he wrote from a victorious place, a relieved place knowing the Lord brought him through circumstances that weren’t really desirable. Imagine running away and hiding in a cave for a bit because someone was hunting you down, but the Lord delivered you from that circumstance. I would definitely be writing songs of thanks and praising the Lord from the place of relief. I’ve never been hunted down but it doesn’t mean there aren’t circumstances that led me to be thankful in life. Be thankful you didn’t take that route home, be thankful that your teacher gave you an extension, be thankful you have clothes to wear, be thankful you have a phone or computer to even read this and use. Just remember that thankfulness points you to the Lord because He’s the reason there is anything in this life to be thankful for. Make thankfulness a part of daily life. Find things big and small to be thankful for.
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. | 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT
Grateful
Being grateful means feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness, thankful. Grateful includes being thankful. It’s like an umbrella term if your teacher ever taught you that in english or geometry…don’t ask why my geometry teacher taught me that because I genuinely don’t have an answer. But being grateful comes with action. You show that you’re thankful by expressing that you’re grateful. Think about when you get a gift, you say thank you and you might even give that person a hug to show you appreciate what they did. My roommate always makes smoothies for us for breakfast if I run out of time to do it, or she helps me run my errands if my plate in life is full and to show her I’m thankful for her taking the time to help me, I do things I know that make her feel appreciated. I know she appreciates a really clean room so I make my bed a lot more than I normally would because I want her to know I appreciate what she does. I make my whole house chocolate-chip cookies to show them I appreciate them as people in my life, and that I’m thankful for their friendship. We do the same thing with the Lord. The Lord does so much for each of us daily whether we can recognize it or not so we do things that would show the Lord appreciation. One of those ways is obeying the Word and following its commands. I never realized how many times the Lord said He would fulfill a promise as long as we keep His commands and obey Him. It’s because it pleases Him and therefore we show gratitude to the Lord by doing so, and through that, it provokes Him to bless us and it’s an ongoing cycle and it’s the kind of cycle you want to be in. Show the Lord you’re grateful by never forgetting what He’s done and pursuing a holy life daily. Talk to the Lord daily. The entire Bible and the point of Jesus is because the Lord wanted us to be able to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to be close and as we choose to make time for Him, reading the Word, praying, praising, and worshiping Him we show how grateful we are. Gratefulness starts with expressing, so open your mouth and express to the Lord how grateful you are and tell people of the great things He’s done in your life!
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. | Psalm 9:1 NLT
Gratitude When It Didn’t Make Sense
Never forget what the Lord has done for you. The moment you forget, you slip away into attitudes that aren’t good for your heart. You want to be thankful and grateful in every way. It just turns your negativity into positivity. It makes a dull or bad day into a good one. Being full of gratitude makes it super hard to stay upset.
Two weeks ago, my grandpa passed away. His name was Pacifico (who I named the blog after when he was still alive) and he lived 102 years. This summer he would’ve been 103. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a first generation Brazilian-American. As a little kid and a teenager my dream was to meet my grandparents, especially my dad’s dad. I would pray the Lord would let him live long enough for me to hug him just once. My family has been here 22+ years. When I moved to Florida for college my parents started working on paperwork to get back to visit their family. During April/May of 2020 my parents finally got their papers. They hadn’t seen their family, hugged their parents since before I was born so when the papers came my family was ready to plan a big trip. So for the first time ever I went to Brazil in January of 2021. I was so excited but more than that, I was so excited to see my dad and grandpa’s faces when they got to see each other and hug.
It was 6:00 PM last Monday (April 4th, 2022) and I was at my church to play keys and lead worship for something we do called The Stand. During soundcheck, right as we started, my mom texted me to let me know my grandpa passed away. I held it together long enough to make it through the end of soundcheck. The moment I walked off, I cried my eyes out. You’re probably wondering where the encouraging part comes in but it’s coming I promise. So I cried and cried for 20 minutes. I had to go lead the team in prayer, but I addressed them briefly before praying. I told them what was going on so everyone was aware of why my eyes were a little puffy but instead of bringing sadness to the room, I quite literally left it at the door and had the urge to be thankful and grateful all together. I told the team my grandpa lived a life longer than most. 102 is unheard of these days. But I told them how incredibly grateful I was to know I can see the true testimony in it all which is that the Lord let me hug him. I got to see the victory and joy in my dad's eyes as he embraced his father for the first time in over 22 years. He could have passed earlier, but the Lord blessed him with a truly long life and with that so much was fulfilled. I told the team it was hard to continue on being sad when I knew his life wasn’t cut short and that the Lord answered my prayer.
So I told the team to find that one thing you’re grateful for no matter how small it may seem and to go out and praise and worship from that place of gratitude. I told them to always keep a list of things the Lord has done for them and keep it where they can always find it because it would be such a shame to grow so complacent and forget all the Lord has done in your life. A normal person would not have been able to do that. The average person might have left and grieved for days and weeks but I’m grateful. My grandpa knew the Lord so I have no doubt that he just started to truly live. So in that there was so much more to be thankful for than to cry over. I did shed a few more tears but I was able to smile and laugh at the same time. That’s what happens when you learn to be truly grateful and thankful. Moments that would normally be hard you’re able to find reasons to smile and rejoice!
Always Grateful, Always Thankful
Enter His gates with thanksgiving; Enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, And His faithfulness continues to each generation. | Psalms 100:4-5
Gratefulness and thankfulness together makes for thanksgiving and not the holiday. When we come before the Lord it’s supposed to be with thanksgiving! That’s why it says to enter His courts that way. It turns your eyes to Him and allows you to praise and get yourself into a place of true worship. It’s more than songs you sing in church though, this is life. When you wake up don’t leave your house or go on about your day without thanking God for at least one thing. I’m sure you can think of more than just one thing. But always keep a grateful and thankful heart. Life is so much easier when you fix your eyes on Jesus and learn to see the Lord’s hand in daily life. It all comes with building good habits and good effort. So go and make a list of things you’re grateful for! Put it on your mirror, hang it on your wall, type it in your phone and keep yourself in a position of gratitude. That is when all the other things you’re believing for will start happening because you didn’t forget what God did for you and show him thankfulness regularly. Go read some Psalms and listen to some praise music! And here’s my last piece of advice: start your day with praise music too.
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. | Psalm 103:2
Be grateful, be thankful!
- Kez
