“An Attitude of Gratitude”
Did you know that there is power in showing gratitude? Simply being thankful and displaying gratefulness is powerful! Imagine your spouse saying, “thank you honey for washing the clothes, I really appreciate having clean clothes in the drawer”. “Thank you for cooking a meal or making sure that there are groceries in the refrigerator.” Let’s say your son or daughter made you a picture or just sent a card to say, “thanks mom and dad!” How would this make you feel? Often times just saying, “Thank you!” makes you feel warm, appreciated, happy, it heals and it motivates you to want to do more.
Although everyday is a day of thanksgiving, this week I want to encourage you to be intentional about having an attitude of gratitude. We all know that Thanksgiving is on Thursday and that this is a time to give thanks to God for all that He has done and will do. However, I want to encourage you to practice an attitude of gratitude towards your spouse. When was the last time that you said thank you to your spouse?
Be intentional about encouraging your spouse with an attitude of gratitude. Practice saying “Thank You!” You could even be creative because there are so many ways to display gratitude. Just to name a few: You could simply say thank you for _____. You could write a letter of thanks and leave it some place where you know your spouse will see it. You could buy flowers and just say thank you! You could send a thank you text or email. You could run a bubble bath and say thank you! If your spouse normally cooks, you could prepare or purchase the meal and just say thank you! Think of things that your spouse does frequently and that you enjoy. I hope that it is easy for you to say thank you to the man/woman that you vowed to spend the rest of your life, but for some it’s a struggle.
I know somebody is saying, “he/she hasn’t done anything for me to be thankful.” If this is how you feel, I want to challenge you to pray and ask God to show you reasons to be thankful as it relates to your spouse. It may be thank you for coming home at night. Thank you for being a good father, etc. Sometimes we hold back on saying thank you because we focus on the one thing that our spouse is NOT doing. However, I honestly believe that if you display an attitude of gratitude towards all or the one thing that your spouse is doing he/she would be motivated to do more. Don’t just say thank you, be sure to display it with your actions. You must be sincere.
In Psalm 100:4 God tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and in Psalm 95 it says come before His presence with thanksgiving. This means that God wants us to come to Him with thankfulness on our hearts. If gratitude blesses and pleases God, imagine how it would bless and please your spouse. An attitude of gratitude is powerful! Use your power to help heal, encourage, strengthen, build and warm the heart of your spouse.
Until next week . . .
Carolyn
Marriage from A to Z 