The Transformational Power of GratitudeNäide

Always Grateful

It is easy to take everyday things for granted: food, clothing, and family. But the real secret to happiness is to embrace and enjoy these things with gratitude and thanksgiving. To appreciate the great privilege of being alive.

We tend to take what we already have as a given. Yet we take great annoyance, sometimes even offense, at what we lack. We can spend our entire day, and if we’re not careful, even our whole lives, missing what is in our hands and chasing what is beyond our grasp.

In Ecclesiastes 9, Solomon admonishes his readers to enjoy life with the wife they love all the days of their fleeting life, which God has given them under the sun.

In Ephesians 5, Paul implores husbands to take on the posture Solomon recommended in marriage—be thankful and appreciative. There is so much right in front of us. If we see it for all it is worth, we will be empowered to steward it well. When we take things for granted, we will not benefit from their potential to impact our lives, thus compounding our misery.

Living with appreciation is our reward in life and in our toil laboring under the sun. We should work hard, love well, and embrace life with gratitude. This lifestyle leads to enjoyment. We will never have it all, but life is not about how much we have. It is about how we steward and treasure what we have been given.