1 Week to Becoming Grateful

We literally complain about everything.

I mean everything. And if you think I’m lying raise your hand if you complained about the weather on Sunday.❄️

If you don’t complain about the weather, maybe some of these lines will ring a bell:

· The line is moving too slow.
· The car in front of us clearly doesn’t know how to drive.
· The food doesn’t taste good.
· My coffee wasn’t made right.
· I hate my job.
· I don’t want to talk to this person right now.

Any of this sound familiar?

If it doesn’t, just take a minute and log into Facebook, or Meta, or whatever we’re calling it now. You’ll see a whole new world of complaints on there. Complaining is second nature to us. But while it may be a natural response, we often don’t see what our habit of complaining is doing.

You see, grumbling chokes the song of a grateful heart.

We are one week away from Thanksgiving. Can you believe it? That means we have one week to whip ourselves into grateful people. Now, if you have been following along the past few weeks, you’ve already got a head start. And if you haven’t been, that’s okay. You can catch up by clicking here, then here. Are you caught up? Great. Let’s continue.

Another roadblock we often face on our journey to becoming grateful, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is that we are constantly complaining. And if our first thought or response is to grumble about the situation we find ourselves in, we are missing out on an opportunity to be thankful.

Okay. Before we continue, I’m going to need y’all to make a list. A list of all the things we are thankful for [we’ve even made a template of one to make it easy for you — you can find it here].

Why?

Because most of the things we complain about are the very things that are on our list. Seriously, they are. The amount of things that I complain about are the exact same things I’m thankful for. How often do we complain about family members calling us, needing something, or not being helpful enough, yet one of the first things we say we are thankful for is our families? Maybe some of you are thankful for your job but then complain about how much you hate going to it or how annoying your co-workers are. Or perhaps you’ve got God, or your relationship with God, at the top of your list but are constantly angry that He’s not answering your prayers the way you expect.

To stop complaining, we’ve got to shift our mindset. That starts with being reminded of the things we are truly thankful for. Because when you are constantly reminded of all the reasons you have to be grateful, it leaves a lot less room for complaining.

Do you remember earlier when I said grumbling chokes the song of a grateful heart? Well, it also does something else. It robs us of a chance to share the Gospel.

Paul tells us in Philippians to “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.” And if that were how the chapter ended, let alone the verse, it would be reason enough to quit complaining. But that’s not how it ends. It keeps going.

“ …that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” -Philippians 2:14–15

In a world where complaining is the norm, God is calling us to be different. Why? Because it’s a chance to show Himself through you to others. We often make sharing our faith or being like Jesus this really hard or difficult thing. Don’t get me wrong; it can be. But verses like this make us realize that showing the love of Christ can be as easy as not complaining. Those phone calls you don’t want to answer or that job you don’t want to go to are opportunities to share the Gospel and show the love of Jesus to someone who needs to experience it.

So, that thankful list we talked about earlier, hang it up. Then make another copy and put it in your wallet, work bag, purse, wherever you need it to remind you of all the incredible things you have to be thankful for.

We’ve got one more week, friends. Let’s be people who sing the song of gratitude loudly for the world to see and “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18a