Practicing Gratitude

How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? // Psalm 116:12

“Mom, are you complaining?” I bit my tongue and glanced into the rearview mirror. My son gave me a wry smile, and I sighed. For Lent I had given up complaining and I told my kids that if they heard me complaining to let me know. A week into it, I was ready to call it quits. I was ashamed to see how often complaints came out of my mouth!

After dropping off my kids at school, I started praying in the car, asking God to help me change my attitude. I knew that gratitude was the antidote. As if to punctuate that thought, I noticed the car in front of me had (in huge letters across his back window) the question, “What are you grateful for today?” Touché, Lord. 

He wasn’t done. Moments later the song “I Thank God” by Maverick City Music came on the radio. The artist sang of being grateful to God for all the ways He turned his life around. I started thinking about how God turned my own life around—bringing me out of mortal sin and setting me on a new path. I recalled all the times He saved me, in big and little ways, and the gratitude I felt bubbled up and spilled out in tears. 

Refocusing my mind on the goodness of God, I cried out with the Psalmist, “How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:12-13). 

Sister, what will you do the next time you feel negativity settling in and complaints forming? Let’s turn our focus to gratitude as we pray: Lord, forgive me for complaining or feeling sorry for myself. I offer this cross to you as an act of love and thanksgiving for all You’ve done for me. I love You. Amen.