Thanksgiving and Gratitude

The last few days, I've been pondering the words, "thanksgiving" and "gratitude." (For obvious reasons.) Are they synonyms, or is there a difference between "giving thanks" and "being grateful"?

I'm a big fan of dictionary.com, so of course, I looked them up and confirmed that what I had been thinking was pretty much true. "Thanksgiving" is an action and "gratitude" is an attitude. That may sound like a very simple difference, but without one, you probably will not have the other, at least not authentically. They work together. Just as "faith without works is dead",  gratitude without the expression of thanksgiving becomes stagnant and cold. And thanksgiving expressed without a heart full of gratitude is just noise. It may not be apparent to anyone but you and your Father God, but your words will sound lifeless and hollow in your own ears.

When Sarah Ban Brethnach's book, Simple Abundance, became wildly popular "gratitude" became a big buzzword in our culture. It was the "in" thing to keep a gratitude journal. I think many people are still reaping the benefits of that today, but let's not take it for granted. Gratitude is a choice. We can choose to be grateful regardless of our circumstances, and out of that choice our thanksgiving will flow.

Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." When our hearts are full of gratitude, our words will be full of thanksgiving.

And you know what the really cool thing is? Not only can we make the choice, but we have been empowered to make it. God gives us all the strength and all the grace we need to do it. It is simply a matter of turning. That's what repentance is, it's just a turning away from one thing toward another.

If I'm in a deep, dark place of self-pity and ingratitude (and oh yes, I've been there) it can seem like the most difficult, impossible thing in the world In fact, sometimes I just don't WANT TO! But my Father God is loving and patient and kind. His kindness brings me to repentance and the moment I decide to quit wallowing in my own filth, He is there. It's so simple, it seems to good to be true. But it is. It's true.