Practicing Gratitude

“Do all things without complaining and disputing,” Philippians 2:4 NKJV

Certainly, this must be a typo. Everything? Surely there have be some activities that allow just a little grumbling, or at least heavy sighs? Or – one of my favorites – perhaps just a teensy sarcastic zinger?

Nope.

Ok – so let’s dig a little deeper. There must be a way out of this. Let’s look at the word “everything“. There has to be some wiggle room in the definition, right? Uh-oh, Dictionary.com doesn’t help my case one little bit. Its definition of Everything is, “every single thing or every particular of an aggregate or total; all.”

Well, nuts!

I guess the Bible is really saying what it means and means what it says. No escape. So, what happens if we actually do this? Besides honoring God, do you want to know something incredible? There are measurable health benefits of practicing gratitude. Here is a PDF of an article from Epoch Times posted. I encourage you to read it.  It lays out all kind of benefits of being grateful – intentionally grateful. It gives simple tools and ideas to get started. Check it out.

Now, back to God’s principles for a minute. Maybe, just maybe He isn’t in the business of capriciously bossing us around or being a dictatorial control-freak. The God that provided this direction is actively seeking our best interest – our health, wellbeing and joy.

Complaining or grumbling – I want to eradicate this from my life. Gratitude, thanks, joy, love eliminate the emotional “free radicals” that are toxic to self and others. Apparently, gratitude actually generates brain chemistry that is positive. I’m in!

Isn’t God amazing?

– RG