Be Thankful In All Circumstances

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Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


Gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation. When you search up gratitude using this keywords 'gratitude meaning', vocabulary.com will return the following

Gratitude, which rhymes with "attitude," comes from the Latin word gratus, which means "thankful, pleasing." When you feel gratitude, you're pleased by what someone did for you and also pleased by the results.

Feeling. Emotion. Attitude.

It is easy for you to feel grateful when life is going well, to celebrate the joys of life and magnify its goodness.

But it doesn't come easy when disaster strikes. Losing a job, a loved one, failing at something, having disabilities or when life gets extremely challenging and painful that you wonder if it's possible to find anything to be thankful for.

Gratitude is also not easy to cultivate in our modern consumerist society. You tend to focus on what you lack. You compare yourself to other people which only magnifies what you don't have. You stopped counting your blessings, you started counting theirs!

Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Everything you do springs from your heart - your behavior, your attitude, your words, your actions. Guarding your heart means protecting yourself from things that would come to harm you. And it is during tough times that you need to be vigilant in guarding your heart and shield yourself from any creeping negative thoughts.

I read somewhere that it is vital to make a distinction between feeling grateful (emotion) and being grateful (a choice).

Feeling grateful is a temporary feeling, it changes from time to time as it follows your thoughts of how things should be and your actual view of how things are - a reaction. You are feeling thankful because you were pleased.

Being grateful is a will, it is a perspective. Don't wait for a favorable circumstances to happen so you could 'feel' grateful again. Instead choose to be grateful. The Bible said "... be thankful in all circumstances." This is a command that even at tough times, you have to maintain an attitude of thankfulness, not taking things for granted. This is the action you need to do to guard your heart, especially at challenging times such as today when the pandemic is felt all over the globe.

Medical researchers and psychologists today believe that practicing gratitude can help us cope with traumatic events, regulate our negative emotions (this I knew based on my experience), and improve our well being. More importantly, gratitude can have positive effect on our family and friends too.


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My thoughts are screaming right now: scientific research shown today are the same teachings that were in the bible for thousands of years!

Bible: 'give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.' God's will is not to harm you but to prosper you.

Research: Practicing gratitude improves your well being... and can have positive effect on your family and friends too (Bible: be the light and salt of the earth)

Bible: Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it

Research: Regulate your negative thoughts

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