A Thankful Life
Coming from a place of gratitude
How does one live life thankfully? For one thing, we can open our eyes to the bounty of gifts God spreads before us every day. But that doesn't mean we are to ignore reality. A life grounded in gratitude faces misfortune and tragedy with an underlying faith that there is also hope. Gratefulness at this level opens our hearts and assures our souls that God is with us in ways far beyond our imaginings. The surety of God’s goodness and the steadfastness of God’s love foster gratefulness so potent it permeates our very selves, and in so doing transforms who we are.
Here we offer thoughts, practices and prayers for nurturing a grateful heart. We hope that they'll serve as a year-round resource as you explore the meaning of gratitude, and unlock the promise of a thankful life.
PRACTICING GRATITUDE
Tips for Thankful Living
Thoughts and suggestions pointing to all God has given us and the joy that comes from a grateful heart
JOURNEY TO A THANKFUL HEART by Linda Douty
How Can I See the Light
In this, the first of six talks based on her book How Can I see the Light
When It Is So Dark?
Journey to a Thankful Heart, author Linda Douty
challenges us to re-examine
what it means to be grateful.
Belief in Gratitude
In the second installment, Linda Douty examines belief as a way to point ourselves in the right direction.
Barriers to Gratitude
Despite our best intentions, the path to a grateful heart can be rugged and
discouraging. In her third talk, Linda Douty addresses the many barriers to
gratefulness that confront us, both those that originate in our surrounding
culture and those patterns of thinking and behavior that begin inside.
Bridges to Gratitude
In Bridges to
Gratitude, Linda Douty explores ways of thinking and
behaving that help us
cooperate with the divine flow of thanksgiving.
“The good news,” she says, “is
that there are a multitude of options
available.”
Bridges to Gratitude, Part 2
Continuing Linda Douty’s exploration of the many ways we can become gratitude, be thankfulness, this summary lists some of the practices that Douty recommends with a quote or two from her talk.
Becoming Gratitude
In this final talk, Linda Douty describes some of the ways we change when we walk to the beat of a grateful heart.
A GUIDED PRAYER SERVICE by Renee Miller
Giving Thanks
Offering thanks for life's blessings
SHORT PRAYERS OF GRATITUDE
A Prayer of Gratitude for Life
Gracious God, I thank you for the hopefulness that surges through me....
Two Prayers for Expressing Joy
Gracious God, I feel such joy in my heart this day. It is as if the shadows that have kept me in the forgotten places of life have been swept away....
THE GOSPEL OF THANKS-LIVING
All other human efforts to infuse life with meaning and purpose start from
the perspective of getting something we don't already have, whereas Christianity
starts with the understanding that we have already received all there is to
have. What remains is how to say thanks for that incredible gift…
CHOOSE CONTENTMENT
Think of what occurs in your own life when you start feeling unhappy with the
way things are.... You begin to feel less and less full, less and less grateful,
less and
less peaceful, less and less human.
THE GRATITUDE GLASS
The hidden word inside gratitude is gratus—which simply means pleasing. A Gratitude Glass can remind us of what is pleasing.
GRACE AND GRATITUDE
The grace of God—in it we live our lives, and if there is nothing we can do
to take that away, then there is nothing left for us to do except to be God's
grateful people, to offer up an overflowing cup of thanksgiving back to God, a
full cup of gratitude spilling out of everything we say and do…
COMPARED TO WHAT
I want to give you a sure-fire formula for how to be utterly miserable at the place at which you find yourself today. And that is to compare yourself to other people. Living in self-absorption is the way to misery. Living in compassion and
awareness and generosity to others, that is the secret of joy.
GIVING IN RETURN
God’s generosity is a model for us—a standard by which to measure our own commitment. The question is: Are we ready and able to live a life characterized by extreme generosity?…
