Linking up with Susannah‘s linkup, co-hosted with Sybil.
This tweet stopped me dead in my tracks:
I’ve been thinking a lot about that difference, feeling thankful and expressing gratitude.  A few years ago Gregory shared with me this idea of “letting the hand lead the heart.” That is, being diligent about actions that change you from the inside. I use that phrase and mentality more often than I could even notice.
Expressing gratitude to God is letting the hand lead the heart.
When we make gratitude and prayers of thanksgiving a discipline, we are cultivating within ourselves a spirit of thankfulness. Even when we do not feel thankful, or we feel burdened with sorrow or exhaustion – by taking a moment to tell the Lord of all the good things he is doing for you, we realign our priorities and see with new eyes the gifts that God has scattered all around our life.
Our eyes are not used to relying on the vision of faith which says that we are given so much more than we see through prices too high for us to comprehend, but if we focus on being grateful, the gifts of God that blur into the background will slowly start to come into focus.
Amen! This post is fabulous, Stephanie! It’s so true – we should show our gratitude to the Lord!
🙂
I love this. The other morning I was walking to school (in the freezing cold), and everything around me was still and quiet. And even though I felt “burdened” and “exhausted”, I practiced thankfulness and gratitude the entire way. Even for the little things. You’re right, it does take discipline, but makes my spirit more alive and attentive to the gifts of God around me that I wouldn’t have seen before.
yes! and to piggyback on that (sigh…. what a phrase), isn’t it more difficult to thank God when everything around us is still and quiet? we tend to be grateful when there’s motion and action around us, when things are happening or being done or whatever. it takes a mature believer (and surely we will get there….eventually) to see the goodness of God as clearly in the cold, quiet as in the hustle and bustle. love you.
love this post! 🙂 i read somewhere that if you do something even if you don’t “feel” like doing it….like show grace or express thankfulness….you’ll find that overtime you do feel it because you’re acting it out!
yes! and isn’t that discipline – doing something regardless of how we feel about doing it? haha. yes! love it.
ya know, i never even thought of that! but that is exactly what discipline is! 🙂
Great post! I love the thought of letting the hand lead the heart. Thanks for sharing! (Stopping by from the linkup!)
<3 thanks amy! the "letting the hand lead the heart" thing is all over if we look for it. 🙂
Good stuff!! Thankful to be a part of the prayer group with you! I had also linked up for the same one! 😉 http://www.in-due-time.com
<3 <3 so grateful for the prayer group!
I love this! And that tweet also gave me pause. I also love: “Expressing gratitude to God is letting the hand lead the heart.” I will be writing
that in my prayer journal. Thank you so much for this!
🙂 <3