Why Gratitude is Important
Often in the Bible it speaks to voicing gratitude to the Lord. Showing gratitude to the Lord and in life is so crucial to living a happy and peaceful life. Gratitude can truly turn your life around and fill it with more happiness and love.
While that sounds a little fishy, that oh just adding a little gratitude to your life can make it happier and fix some issues. But it is TRUE! Berkeley University did a study on if their is any proof that living a life of gratitude will help mental health and guess what… It did! The study was incredibly interesting, I will link it HERE .
There is scientific proof behind the need to keep gratitude in their heart. How cool is that? The Lord does not ask us to do silly and meaningless things. If we live a life with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation we will be not only closer to the Lord but also full of light. Following the Lord has so many benefits.
Many things that are in the Bible for us to do and follow and He will not lead us down a path that will hurt us. There are so many times in the Bible that set an example for gratitude.
This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible about gratitude. It shows such a wonderful example for the importance. One of the stories of gratitude that touches my heart is the 10 lepers and Christ. If you would like to read it in the Bible go to Luke 17:11-19. But this is the summarized version.
As Jesus was walking through a village one day, He saw 10 men who were sick with leprosy. They were outcasts due to their illness, they could not be with their families. The 10 men asked Jesus for help. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They said. Jesus preformed a miracle and healed the men. They were filled with happiness! They began to run back to the village and only one man stopped rejoicing, turned to Jesus and said thank you!
As I read that I wonder if that had been me, would I have just been so happy and seen all that I can do know, all that I could be. Would I have been so focused on myself that I would have forgotten to turn and thank my Savior who just healed and helped me?
We would all love to assume that we would be the one to turn and tell the Lord thank you. But do we do that already? Do we thank the Lord for what he has given us? He blesses us everyday, we should always be thankful and grow in our gratitude to him.
That 1 leper who turned and thanked Jesus is a wonderful example. He did not forget who gave him these blessings, and showed his true appreciation with stopping and telling him. We should continue to follow his example and thank the Lord. Stop in your day and thank him. You’re life will be altered for the better and you will see His light even more.
Now it can be a huge adjustment to spin your life 180 and fill it full of appreciation, but there is no bad time to start. There is no bad space to start, you need to remember to meet yourself where you’re at, if you only start with writing down one thing you are grateful for a day, or only say out loud on thing you are thankful for a day that is okay. Maybe try that for a couple days or a week and then make it two and so on and so forth until you see results.
It is important that you stay consistent, like anything in life consistency is key. You can not get fit or a hard worker if you only work at something once a month or every other week. We need to make being grateful a habit that will stick in your life. People add different habits to their life different ways. For me I need to just add it into one of my blocks in my schedule and I will do it. I love to cross something off and by adding it to my block gives me that chance. If you do not know what the block schedule is here is my post all about it. (link the post)
Find a way that will help you keep gratitude in your heart and soul and then keep it there. By doing this you will see results and will never look back on the decision to put more thankfulness in your heart.
One of the best things about adding gratitude to your life is that it will bring you closer to Christ! How wonderful is that? Something that the Lord talks about, helps your mental health AND brings you closer to you Savior. I am so passionate about anything that brings me closer to Christ.
By practicing this you’ll see even more things to be grateful for and more and more the Lord has done for you. The Lord has given so much and it can change your whole world when you see all there is to be thankful for. It will be a snowball of gratitude and happiness. Nothing could be better than that right?
So to kind of summarize all of these rambles, is gratitude is important because it can turn your life around. Life can be very stressful, but just simply voicing appreciation will keep you happier. The things the Lord has asked you to do will not bring you down but build you up!
What is something you are grateful for?