Where Does Your Gratefulness Stand?

The following is Dan Miller's welcome to the December 1st issue of the 48 Days newsletter:

We are now in the “holiday” season. While most of us experience heightened joy and happiness, there are also many who experience heightened despair and hopelessness as we look back on one year and get ready to begin a new one. The irony is that none of those feelings are dependent on our circumstances. Those with nothing are frequently the most joyful and those with seemingly everything are often the most unhappy and discouraged.

Thus it appears our sense of well-being is a choice – not something pushed down on us by our circumstances. Gratefulness is a direct way to unlock our own peace and joy.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." -- Melody Beattie

Periods of change can reveal how grateful we are or are not. I know that I've been guilty of ungratefulness, but my eyes are opening to the things I have to be grateful for.

Where does your gratefulness stand?


be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 GNB)