What is it to live a life full of thanksgiving? How do I wake up every day with a heart that is exploding with gratefulness and appreciation for all that the Lord has blessed me with?

A grateful heart is not something that we create. It's not something that we can make ourselves feel or a mask that we can put on so people see us as humble and thankful. It is caused simply by knowing and understanding the true and beautiful goodness of the Lord and His love. A thankful heart is a response to knowing His truth, His goodness, His faithfulness, His blessings, and His almighty power and living in these attributes daily. The God we serve is so sweet and full of good gifts. Gifts that seek to glorify Him and gifts that give us opportunities to glorify Him. I want to live my life so thankful for the chance to glorify the One True King.

How can I not be moved to complete awe and gratefulness when I think of the goodness of my Father?

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?

-Psalm 8:3-4

These verses hold such a pure and indebted perspective. It comes from a place of humility and gratitude that recognizes that this almighty, all-powerful, all-encompassing, perfect Creator has extended not only His grace and mercy to us, but also His wonderful, incredible true love that we are so unworthy of.

This is a love that seeks us out.

This is a love that wants a relationship.

This is a love that wants to know us and for us to know Him.

This is a love that breaks down barriers and walls.

This is a love that sets us free from our sin and our shame and our guilt.

This is a love that replaces those with joy and singing and gifts.

This is a love that has won the victory by defeating death.

This is a love that is eternal.

When I think of these things, when I live by these promises and these truths, when I look to Him as opposed to what He set me free from, gratitude becomes the way I live my life. It is simply the only way to respond when being overwhelmed by His unfathomable, incomparable goodness.

My Father is a sweet Father who gives wonderful gifts that I am incredibly joyful to have. He pours out His gifts in all aspects of life. It absolutely blows me away that He gives so abundantly after He has given what we are so undeserving of: salvation. These gifts that He covers me in are just loving reminders of His kindness. However, I want to be at a place of such appreciation that if all of those gifts were taken away, and I was only left with Him, I pray that I would be content, joyful, and grateful for that. So while I am so thankful for all of His kind gifts, I am overcome with awe and gratitude for His most wonderful gift.

I pray that you would live today and everyday focusing on His kind character that has been shown to us.