My random thoughts on gratitude

I've never thought of myself as an ungrateful person, really. I don't think any of the people who know me -- REALLY know me -- would have pegged me that way, either.

I started doing a 30-day gratitude challenge, though. And while I kind of fell off the wagon of following the challenge every day and had to start over with it, I did begin making myself find something every day to be especially grateful for. I've been posting them as my status on Facebook as I go along.

Some days it's been so easy to find something, anything, to be grateful for. Sometimes it was something small, sometimes something profound.

I've found that I have a lot more to be grateful for than I first realized, through this exercise. I've also found that even on those days when it took me a while to find that one thing to be grateful for, it was there. And as the days have passed, it's been easier and easier to find my gratitude things.

Then, just tonight, it hit me -- why have I not been doing this all along? Why have I not put concentrated effort into looking for and seeing all of those wonderful blessings, large and small, that I have in my life. I have always been blessed -- even in those things I have had to work for, I have been very very blessed to have had the opportunity, know how, willingness to learn and desire to work to achieve them.

It doesn't all come from me, that's for sure.

And so as the days have passed and the exercise has gotten more easy for me, I have slowly come to value more and more the spirit of gratitude the Lord offers us all.

I mean, let's face it -- if you're a Christian, you believe that you're a fallen, faulted sinner destined for hell, EXCEPT for the fact the Lord gave Himself for you.

That's how I believe.

And so, given that and the fact that my entire life would be NOTHING except for the gift of grace God has given me, why would I have any reason to be ungrateful for anything??

And being ungrateful goes beyond complaining about something we didn't get or receive or that didn't come easy to us or....well, you get the drift.

It's also about not giving praise and thanks to the Lord for everything He has given us so freely and lovingly.

I'm still learning gratitude. I will have to learn it every day for the rest of my life. It's not human nature to be grateful and thankful. We're selfish and self-centered.

But it's not about me. Alone, I am nothing. Left to my own devices, I would remain fallen and wallow in sin continually.

I can only pray God would remind me daily to Whom and where I belong....I belong to Him and I belong with Him. And even if I devote every single minute of every single day of the rest of my life to Him, praising and thanking for all He has done for me, it will never be enough to repay.

And this is the beauty of it. He doesn't ask us for repayment. The Lord asks of us to spread the message of His salvation and to take up our cross and follow Him. That's it.

More epiphanies will come to me. I will further learn my lessons, but that is what I pray for. I want the Lord to take a hold of my life tighter and stronger than He ever has.