Choosing to be thankful

By Rob Hurtget

I have many people in my life who are thankful. They celebrate others. They see opportunity where none exists and are curious about a variety of topics.

Then there are other people in my life who are not thankful. They are extremely critical of themselves and everyone else. They tend to know what they know, and they think they don't need to know anything else. They don't even seem to enjoy themselves, let alone celebrate others.

I admire thankful people. I relish being around them. Their joy is contagious. They have much that I can learn from. Those who are not thankful, though, are just hard to be around. They complain about most things and seem to find their joy in pointing out the flaws and faults in others. Intentionally being thankful may not come naturally to all, but it is a skill that can be learned by all.

The Bible tells us much about being thankful. Thankfulness from the Bible is not blind optimism or rote dogma. Thanksgiving from the Bible equips others to be thankful beyond the calendar and above circumstances. The readers and preachers of the Bible know that ongoing thankfulness is a choice to be made rather than a feeling to have.

Psalm 42:5 states, "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again -- my Savior and my God!"

This Psalm is powerful because it does not ignore the depth of human emotions, but rises above them. In this Psalm, there are more lines from the disheartened than the optimistic. Yet faith rules above the condition.

Psalm 42 represents us all. Everyone at some point in his or her life will feel discouraged. What the Psalmist tells us though is that we do not need to remain in our broken heart. We can choose to look to God who is greater than our lives and exists outside of us.

Those who have studied happiness have observed that 42 percent of one's daily decisions and habits can be used to bring, not just a greater feeling of happiness, but reasons to give thanks. Psalm 42:5 does not ignore the broken heart, but chooses not to allow the broken heart to be the only heart. Thankfulness is a choice, a response, that turns harsh criticism into a cause for thanksgiving.

Choose thankfulness.