Day 27

“Jesus, thank You.” This simple prayer is only three words long, but it has profound power to transform you from the inside out.

First, gratitude transforms your mental state. As we’ve already seen, expressing gratitude affects you on an emotional, mental, and physical level, triggering the release of hormones that bring emotional stability and well-being. That’s not an accident—God literally designed your body to benefit from gratitude.

Second, it transforms your walk with God. You aren’t just grateful in some generic, impersonal sense. You’re grateful to God. He is the object of your appreciation and praise. Gratitude keeps you close to the One who has provided for all your needs.

Third, gratitude transforms your perspective. It reminds you that life is bigger than your immediate circumstances. There are things happening beneath the surface, and there are good things ahead. Staying grateful enlarges your world and helps you resist cycles of despair and negativity that come from hyper-focusing on problems.

Finally, gratitude transforms the way you show up in your world. Remember Tigger and Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh? Eeyore was always gloomy, sad, and negative, while Tigger was unstoppably happy, almost to a fault. Winnie the Pooh was somewhere in the middle—he was able to see both the good and the bad, but he never let bad things keep him down. In your life, do you swing toward either extreme? Are you chronically negative, like Eeyore, or maybe a bit too oblivious to problems, like Tigger? Or have you figured out how to embrace both the good and the bad, remaining grateful even in the midst of difficult times?

The power of thankfulness cannot be underestimated. It has the potential to transform you on many levels. And, like a muscle that grows stronger with exercise, your capacity for thanksgiving increases as you practice it. The more you turn to gratitude, the more you’ll see the benefit of it and the quicker you’ll come to make this crucial perspective shift.

As you pray this morning, focus on gratitude. Say, “Jesus, thank You,” and let gratitude transform you from the inside out.

Questions for Reflection

1. In what practical ways can you exercise your “thankfulness muscle” to strengthen it over time?
2. How has gratitude enriched your life?
3. Consider the most challenging or worrisome aspects of your life today. What can you find to be grateful for even in those areas? How could changing your perspective help you face those challenges better?