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Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Tangled Roots inhibit us from noticing God’s activity and blessings all around us.

Scripture of the Day:

1 Thessalonians 5:18

“Ggive thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Figures. Day one of posting on cultivating gratitude and my internet dies. The LORD has a sense of humor. First world probs can be irritating, and I confess I started to let this get to me. I don’t have time to be on the phone FOREVER with the internet peeps who have thick foreign accents and soft voices that I cannot comprehend.

Yes, typing all caps on FOREVER felt good. Add to this present reality a broken down car, figuring out rides for kids to jobs, trying to celebrate my son’s birthday while he is taking mid-terms and also trying to help him vote because he has a sudden business trip that has come up . . . ah, well, you get the point. And I haven’t even scratched the surface.

It seems this IS actually a fitting day to begin cultivating thankfulness, after all. Thankfulness existing in perfect circumstances comes easily enough, but when the little stuff begins to add up to distract us from all the blessings in our lives, we need to guard and foster a thankful heart.

Gardening is a great analogy to our walk with God. When I have transplanted plants that I have grown from a seed, I have to be very careful with the roots. Sometimes “volunteer plants” grow so close to the one I intended to plant, that the roots get tangled up. What a picture of how our lives get tangled up so easily. Ripping the roots apart damages the plant and will likely mean it does not produce as well as it could have. But carefully examining the roots and setting them free from anything that damages them enables the roots to be able to get the nourishment they need from the soil.

When our lives seem busy and tangled like this tree in the picture, it is the best time to come to the only One Who can detangle our messes. Busyness sometimes prevents thankfulness when we become so absorbed with our surrounding chaos that we forget to look around us. Tangled Roots inhibit us from noticing God’s activity and blessings all around us.

When we look up and away from the tangled web surrounding us and gaze into God’s perfect word, we begin to forget the mess around us and lay a foundation of gratitude.

Sometimes we need to check our roots and see where they are grounded to be able to “root out” what is preventing gratitude in the first place. That’s where we are going to start our road to cultivating thankfulness – rooting out inhibitors of gratitude.

Here’s a song to cheer us up when things go awry: This is the Stuff

Thank You, LORD, when life’s messes bring us to Your feet in gratitude for what really matters. Temporary discomforts cannot steal our joy.

Denise Pass | Author | Singer | Speaker | Worship Leader