Practice thankfulness -- past, present, future

Paul, writing to distressed people in the city of Thessalonica, instructs them, "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus" (1 Thess. 5:18, NLT.) Thankfulness is not conditional. Being grateful is more than a state of mind or heart. Being thankful is not only an action to take but also God's desire for your life and wellbeing. There are many ways to practice thankfulness in all things. Allow me to offer three.

First, there is past thankfulness. Looking over the scope of your life, you have reasons to be thankful. You can read the words on these pages. Someone in your life invested that skill within you. You have friends today that you met in the past. You have memories that make your life rich. Taking time to reflect on your past is a habit that builds a heart of thankfulness.

No doubt there are hardships and tragedies in your past that can make being thankful difficult. No one wants to, nor should they, minimize your past hurts. Yet, at the same time, you can be thankful in all circumstances because, at minimum, they have helped frame who you are today. Your past is defining, but it does not define you.

Second, you have present thankfulness. Take time to list out reasons you are thankful. You are breathing. You have a place to be. Name the people in your life who care about you. Challenge yourself to write a list of twenty things for which you are thankful. My guess is you will write more than twenty. When you give voice to your thankfulness, thankfulness grows. The present is always expiring. Be thankful before it is gone.

Lastly, there is future thankfulness. No one knows what the future will hold, but you can be thankful for days to come. Being thankful for the future fuels an unquenchable and optimistic faith. A.W. Tozer once wrote, "Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now." When you give thanks for what you have not yet seen, you claim the promise that the Lord has the best future for you.

Being thankful is not natural. We are prone to complain and moan. It takes intentional effort to be and express thankfulness. Yet being thankful draws us closer to the heart of God.