Basic Guide to Being Thankful

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks in all circumstances;for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you

Many people take things for granted, including me. So many of us just live with certain privileges and don't really acknowledge them until they're forcefully taken away from us. This Sunday, the topic in Sunday School was being thankful/grateful for what God has done. After in our workbook we were told to state 10 things Christians should be thankful for.

Even when faced by challenges that don't seem to be budging, we must remind ourselves of what God has done thus far in our lives. I have compiled a basic list of things we should thank God for, including some further explanations that hopefully would help one think. Let's face it, it's not easy sometimes to be grateful, but I hope that you can incorporate this list into your daily life and live a life of thanksgiving. To me, these are some of the basics:

Functioning Body Parts

Sometimes I just sit down and start thanking God for as many body parts as I can name. My eyes, nose, mouth, ears, spinal cord, arms, legs, stomach, kidney, liver, heart, etc. There's just so many body parts and organs we humans are made up of. I can't imagine being involved in a ghastly accident and waking up with no legs or arms. I think I would honestly lose my will to live. It's one thing to be born without some things but to have something for most of your life and then lose it the next would be so heart wrenching.

My heart constricts when I think of people who are in those kinds of situations. Without my eyes how would I be able to admire colours and pictures? Without my mouth how would I be able to speak, how would I sing (albeit horribly)? Without my ears how would I listen to all my favourite songs? Without my hands! How would I write stories, pouring out my heart into pages whether on paper or computer? When I read stories about people getting acid poured on their faces I feel so angry!

Imagine waking up and having your face morphed into something you can't recognise? I would seriously feel like never coming out in public again or even being alive. God, so many people are in such messed up situations and are struggling to pick the pieces of their life back! I pray they find the strength, because I don't know how I could cope with that. So yes, we must be thankful for all the body parts we have that are functioning, even the ones that aren't (try, just try).

Education

To me, education is the stepping stone to greatness. A lot would like to disagree but I feel that any education is important. I'm not trying to say you can't be great If you don't go to university or something. Knowledge is power, we should thank God for the amount of knowledge we have been able to accumulate because honestly there are so many living in ignorance. 

This ignorance becomes a deep part of them, and they continue making the same mistakes and getting cheated. I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about everything as learning is a life long journey, I'm just saying I'm grateful for the education I've been able to attain. There are so many people who wish they could go to school but are trapped where they are due to a lack of funds and my heart goes out to them. I love education, and definitely plan to provide sponsorship & scholarships in the near future.

God's Grace and Mercy

This is important. We have a merciful and graceful God. We should be thankful that we have a God that forgives our sins. A God that opens doors for us even if we don't deserve it. A God that fights battles that we can see and the ones we cannot see. 

A God that protects our coming and our going even though we might take that for granted. The same road you travel safely on can be the place where someone loses their life or gets seriously injured. We just need to be thankful that God has preserved us thus far, even through the heart wrenching challenges of life.

Other People

This can be family, friends etc. Not everyone is born into a good family. I know we don't get to choose our families but some families seriously suck! Sometimes, tough situations give birth to refined individuals. Sometimes not. If you have a good family where all is well, be VERY thankful. It's no news that not every family is a happy family, some families have disgusting things which go on behind closed doors. 

If you come from a family like this, thank God you have survived so far, and thank God that your future will not be like the present. I pray that God will heal you of every hurt, and mould you into the ideal human being so your story will be different. I pray you won't make the same mistakes as your parents or other family members, I pray you will be a beacon of light guiding lost souls to the right path. 

If you have good friends in your life, thank God for them! It's so easy to get bad company, friends who won't add anything substantial to your life but instead leave you feeling empty. There are friends that come into your life in order to destroy your future, so if you know you have good friends who uplift you and want the best for you then thank God! Truth be told, friends, whether good or bad, teach us something at the end of the day. We should be thankful for the experiences we have learned from (though they may have been painful while we were going through them).

Food

Most would probably roll their eyes at this because they've heard it many times. However we should always be thankful for the food we are able to eat. Some people have the privilege of choosing not to eat, while others have no choice but to go without food. 

Some are scouring the streets in the search of food to eat, even looking for leftovers. Some of us don't even understand "give us our daily bread" because we've never really had to worry about food. Whether we can afford 3 square meals a day or even 1, we should be thankful always for food being available to us. It can be hard, but we must try.

Water

Water is another thing that can easily be taken for granted. Water is a key component in our daily lives as we use it to bathe, hydrate ourselves, wash dishes, clothes etc. Where I live, I have a constant source of water which gushes out quickly through every tap. However, there are some times when the tap stops gushing quickly and instead brings out a slow stream and this makes me uncomfortable. 

I even remember when I was younger and water would stop flowing through all the taps so we'd have to go and fill up jerrycans. It honestly made me so comfortable, having something one day and it disappearing the next. I can't even imagine people who have to deal with this for extended periods of time. So I thank God I have access to not just any water but even clean, usable water.

CHALLENGE: Take this list and use it to thank God every morning and night for a whole week. Note any differences you see in your life and come tell me about it.

After Thoughts

If you have nothing to say about improvements, just tell me what you thought about the write up! I would really appreciate your views and your personal stories on being grateful.

I hope you liked the write up and I hope I didn't ramble too much! If you have any tips on how to improve my writing please comment below e.g. spacing the points out more, bigger/smaller font, keeping the descriptions shorter.