Developing Joy By Storing Up Gratitude.
God’s daily displays of goodness are so normative, we often fail to notice them.
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I don’t know about you, but I find it oh-so-easy to come up with an almost endless list of things about which to complain.
The weather.
Politics.
Utah food, drivers, and sadly even the Jazz, just to name a few.
The reality is, we live in a world that is fractured at its very core. Humanity itself, is fractured at its very core. Because of this, things in life are not always what we wish. This means, most of us can come up with an almost endless list of things about which to complain.
The bigger challenge is coming up with reasons for gratitude. The problem is, if we’re going to be a people of joy in world of dread, we have to seek God’s help to become increasingly aware of all the reasons for gratitude that surround us each day. So let’s talk about this second tool in our daily practice for developing a joyful attitude.
Storing Up Gratitude.
Psalm 136:1 says,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.”
One of the most powerful tools for cultivating joy is recognizing the wealth of reasons for gratitude that surround each of us. God is good to us in an almost countless number of ways, big and small. The challenge is, often times His goodness goes unnoticed.
It’s kind of like the way we stop noticing the beauty we’re surrounded by here in Salt Lake City. If you’ve never been here, we live in a valley literally surrounded by some of the most stunning mountains on earth.
I remember when we first moved here, there were days I almost drove off the road, because I was so distracted by how stunning and enormous our mountains were. Every time I came out of a store, or walked out of our front door, I was stopped in my tracks by all the beauty that surrounded me. And even though I work hard to still appreciate this beauty, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that their beauty is so normal, I don’t notice them as much. And this is the risk we run with God’s goodness.
God’s daily displays of goodness are so normative, we often fail to notice them.
This reality invites us to keep fighting for awareness. So here’s how we can remedy this:
Either in the morning, or the evening, take just a few minutes to store up gratitude, using a form of the Examen. If you aren’t familiar with it, the The Ignatian Examen, or the Daily Examen, as some call it, is a contemplative prayer through which we reflect on the prior day, primarily as a way of recognizing God’s presence within it. I want to put a twist on this, by inviting you to utilize as an intentional means of cultivating gratitude.
Simply start by asking the Holy Spirit to shine light on all the reasons, both big and small, that you have to “give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.”
Next, review the day. Imagine you are scrubbing through a YouTube video of your day. Hit “pause” every time the Holy Spirit shows you something for which to be grateful. It could be a delicious meal, the sun on your face, or a kind word from a friend. Again, it need not be a grand display of God’s goodness. The power is in learning to store up even the smallest display of His goodness.
Finally, respond by thanking God. If you’re up for it, I would strongly encourage to write this part down. You can use a journal, or a note on your phone. But there is something about writing it down that memorializes it in your heart in a more meaningful way.
Allow this simple practice to open your eyes to how many ways in which God is good to you each and every day.
Remember, the soul is like a sponge for bad news. Apart from intentionality, we won’t naturally capture and store away these many experiences of God’s goodness we encounter each day. In fact, we won’t even notice them. But if we’re careful to spend even a few minutes each day giving our attention to God’s goodness, I promise we will walk in greater and greater joy.