Gratitude in Times of Anxiety
On we go through Derek Wilson's sermon on gratitude, and his words today are very profound indeed, listen closely:
Learning Gratitude in Hard Times
Secondly, I want to say that we will learn our greatest lessons about gratitude in times of anxiety and frustration. Think about this family that I spoke about a few minutes ago. This lady at the wedding yesterday - man, was she happy! Because her husband had been healed. But you know what? They had to live through all the anxiety of their cancer before they discovered that it was gone. Without the anxiety, they wouldn't really understand what gratitude is about.
Do you get what I'm trying to say here? Because it's very important. We will learn our greatest lessons about gratitude in anxiety and struggle.
Nothing changes other than the fact that we understand how fragile life is. When you understand how fragile life is, you say, "Thank you, Lord" - you really do, for every day. This life that we have is an amazing gift. But it's a matter of perspective. You've got to get your perspectives right on life.
A Matter of Perspective
It's like the story of this young girl who went to varsity, staying in res, and she writes a letter home and she says, "Folks, I just want to say to you, I'm okay. After all those student riots and the fire that we had in our dormitory, I had to go to hospital because I had lung damage, and I spent a little while in hospital. But I'm okay now. I met an orderly at the hospital, and we've fallen in love, and I've dropped out of university, and we've got married, and we're living in Alaska, and I'm pregnant."
Then she wrote a line at the bottom and she said, "I'm only joking, but I failed my chemistry test, and I wanted you to keep your perspective."
You see, it's a matter of perspective, folks. We learn our greatest lessons on gratitude in the midst of anxiety.
Do you need to change your perspective today, and get grateful even in your anxiety? May it be that your heart finds its way to being thankful, whatever it is you're going through today.
Our deepest lessons in gratitude are often learned in seasons of anxiety and struggle - because it is there that we truly understand how fragile and precious life is.