Welcome to God's Lemonade Stand

It is my hope that by reading this daily you will grow in your walk with Christ and knowledge of scriptures and be set free from any struggles in your life that are weighing you down. Be blessed to be a blessing.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

THANKFUL, YOU BETCHA!!

I have been to several weddings in the past three years and only about half the brides wrote me a thank you note after the wedding.  The ones I did get made me smile and they came pretty quickly after the wedding. Seems like to some this act of appreciation is not necessary or important. I mean months go by and no thank you notes arrive. It is sad to me apparently in some of these families courtesy and etiquette were not emphasized nor was a grateful spirit. I am not upset at these young couples for forgetting me but when a person goes out of their way to buy a costly gift you would hope that you would get an acknowledgment. You sort of feel used in a way. You may have to put this out of your mind or it can make you angry. Now granted you do not give gifts just to get thanked but it should be common courtesy for the recipient to show their gratitude by writing a hand written note and sticking it in the mail. You should never use the excuse of being too busy to write. And even with email, people should still use a stamp and snail mail for some things just as a matter of courtesy. It is still there in etiquette books as the right thing to do.
The  point in this devotion is not to guilt anyone but to make you think about what you do when you get a gift. Do you have a thankful heart  or an unthankful heart that could care less? Is your heart cold and hard or do you have a grateful spirit and show it? If you are not thankful ask yourself why not. Do you say thanks to people when they do acts of kindness to or for you? Perhaps the key is to think less of self and your wants and more of other people. Delight yourself in the Lord and look for ways to say thanks.

How do you think God feels when we do not say thanks to him for all the gifts and blessings he bestows on us? Do we act like bratty ungrateful children or do we stop and say "thank you Lord!" Do we just take his gifts for granted too?
Many today feel like we are living in the last days just because of things going on around us. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 it says "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them." Maybe in this generation of busyness, twittering, texting, face booking, and constant motion there is not time for this vital skill. I urge parents of young children reading this to teach their children to be grateful by not only saying thanks with a grateful heart but by writing notes to people who have given them gifts. It should never go out of style,
In Moms in Touch we have the four steps of prayer and the 3rd step is called 'thanksgiving' time. It is during this time we specifically concentrate on thanking God to answers to our prayers from the previous weeks. It is a time to take the focus off self and put it on to the Lord and all his goodness to us. (http://www.momsintouch.org/). My mom taught me to be thankful and I taught my sons, but this ministry emphasizes it in our spiritual life.

What about you? Do you have a grateful heart and show it or are you lazy about sitting down and writing out a note of thanks for things people give to you? It makes the person feel appreciated in a huge way when you do this. It could even be a thank you for an act of kindness too. Get in the habit of being thankful.
I suggest sitting down and writing out things that you're thankful for to get your mind focused in that area. This is a good mental practice to recall just all the wonderful blessings we have. Never get to the point in life where you act ungrateful. Even job seekers need to get in a habit of writing thank you notes after an interview. You will stand out among the other candidates when you do this simple act.

Colossians 3:15 says " Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 4:2 tells us to "Devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Psalm 95:2 says to "come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
PRAYER: Thank you Jesus for my friends and family. Thanks for the times people give me nice gifts. Help me never to forget to write a note of thanks. Give me a grateful heart. In Jesus name amen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1WmzRxBGFY&tracker=False

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