The Beauty of Gratefulness

We are all beautiful flowers in GOD’s earthly garden. The “beautiful” component of it is that no two flowers are the same.

While HE created us as unique individuals, there are some features that we all share.

One of those features is that HE created us with the capacity to be grateful.

To be grateful is to express gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude of appreciation and an expression of thanksgiving.

We’re all trained at an early age to say thank you when someone has given you something or expressed kindness to you.

However, many of us were not trained in how to appreciate someone. To appreciate means recognizing the value or the worth of a person, place, or thing.

When measuring a person’s worth, you identify their usefulness, value, and importance.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 informs us that the will of GOD for each of our individual lives was for us to give thanks.

Furthermore, for us to give thanks in everything, and for everything.

The reason why gratefulness should be readily available to express from us is because HE is the SUPPLIER of all of our needs. HE is the SUPPLIER of our “everything”. Without HIM, our lives would have no story, because HE is connected to our “everything”.

All of our lives have unique narratives and plot twists, yet HE is the ONE present in all of our stories, and HE should be the recipient of WHO our gratefulness is bestowed upon. When we grasp that understanding, we unlock the beauty of gratefulness.

Below is a letter that I wrote to HIM in 2016 on behalf of us as HIS “creation”.

It is entitled: YOU are My Story.

YOU are My Story YOU are a part of me therefore my story has significance. YOU will never forsake me (Hebrews 13:5) therefore my story will always have substance. YOU have awakened me (Ephesians 2:1) therefore my story is newsworthy. YOU are transforming me, (Romans 12:2) therefore my story is impactful. YOU have commissioned me (Isaiah 6:8), therefore my story is beautiful. (Romans 10:15) YOU defend for me therefore the theme of my story is victory. (But thanks be to GOD, which giveth us the victory through our LORD JESUS CHRIST- I Corinthians 15:57). YOU pre-ordained me therefore my story plot is intriguing. (Romans 8:29) YOU dwell within me (John 14:17) therefore my story has Great Characters named Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Temperance, Faith, Goodness, Kindness, and Gentleness (Galatians 5: 22-23). YOU formed me therefore my story is unique yet familiar to others. (Psalm 139:14) My story has the proximity to reach others because YOU have drawn near to all. (Psalm 119:151)  My story is peculiar therefore it is a novelty. (1 Peter 2:9) My story has excitement because YOUR zeal has orchestrated it. (Isaiah 9:6) My story has conflict because it is a story about YOU and me. (Romans 7:21) YOU are my pillow, my bread, my song, and my hope. YOU are my future, my present, my past, and my forever. YOU are my joy, my laughter, my handkerchief, my strength, and my burden bearer. YOU are my sounding board and my measuring stick. YOU are my truth, my boundary, and my reality. I have wrestled with YOU, ridiculed YOU, and used YOUR Holy Name in vain, yet YOU still died for me. (Romans 5:8) I have insulted YOUR Omniscience by withholding my motives. Yet, YOU have known my ending from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10) I have refused YOUR Omnipotence by operating in my own strength. Yet, YOUR mercy follows me all of the days of my life. (Psalm 23:6)  I have exposed YOUR Omnipresence through my eye gate and my ear gate. (Psalm 139:8)  I have prostituted YOUR Name for gain, yet YOU still provide for me. I have perverted YOUR ways, quenched YOUR SPIRT, and ignored YOUR council, yet YOU still make ways for me.  I have accused YOU, misrepresented YOU, and disregarded YOU, yet YOU still visit me. (Psalm 8:4) My story is refreshing (John 7:38) because YOU are a replenisher of life. My life is a great story because YOU are an excellent Author. (Hebrews 12:2) Although my story has not finished, I expect a great end (Jeremiah 29:11) because YOU are the ultimate Story Teller. (Matthew 13:10) Therefore, thank YOU for the climax. Thank YOU for the drama. Thank YOU for the struggle. Thank YOU for honesty. Thank YOU for transparency. Thank YOU for the disclosure. Thank YOU for wealth and for rebuking the devourer. (Malachi 3:11) Thank YOU for the covering. Thank YOU for the cliff-hanger. Thank YOU for the mystery. Thank YOU for the pain. Thank YOU for the companionship. (Proverbs 18:24)Thank YOU for YOUR love. (John 15:13) Thank YOU for confidence. Thank YOU for unbelief. Thank YOU for nurturing my faith. Thank YOU for assurance, blessed assurance. Thank YOU for grace, enabling grace. Thank YOU for peace that passeth understanding. (John 14:27) Thank YOU for prayer in the midnight hour, in the noon-day hour, and the morning hour too. Thank YOU for comfort and YOUR COMFORTER. Thank YOU for intercession. (Romans 8:26) Thank YOU for reconciliation. Thank YOU for remembrance. Thank YOU for redemption. Thank YOU for YOUR testimony.  Thank YOU for my testimony. Thank YOU for salvation. Thank YOU for purpose. Thank YOU for my rest. Thank YOU for my freedom. Thank YOU for Calvary. Thank YOU for wearing my stripes and receiving my piercings. Thank YOU for bearing them and my chastisement as well. (Isaiah 53:5) Thank YOU for being my substitute. Thank YOU for working for me. (Luke 22:44) Thank YOU for being my blood transfusion. Thank YOU for YOUR promise of coming again. (Acts 1:11) Thank YOU for making my story be significant, breath-taking, suspenseful, comical, common, profound, endearing, life-altering, and newsworthy. In other words thank YOU for being YOU.  Thank YOU for my story. Love, YOUR Creation

Bless the LORD Affirmation

Dearest FATHER,

Thank YOU for creating us with the capacity of gratefulness. When we express it, we fulfill purpose. Bless the LORD oh my soul and all (which includes our everything) that is within me. Bless YOUR Holy name.