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Everyone knows that gratitude matters but do we know that it is a foundational spiritual practice? Practicing gratitude will help us become more like Jesus. Gratitude: showing appreciation for what God has done. While gratitude may be a seemingly easy practice, there are often things that get in the way of our gratitude. There are four main things that get in the way of gratitude:

1. DISTRACTION – I CAN’T SEE WHAT I HAVE. 

Sometimes there are things going on in our world that make it difficult for us to show appreciation for what God has done. Maybe you are just so busy with what you’ve got going on between school and homework and sports and friends and all the stuff you fill your life with, that sometimes you just forget to be grateful for what God is doing. Sometimes we have a hard time being grateful because there are just so many things that distract us from it.

2. DISCONTENTMENT - I’M NOT SATISFIED.

Sometimes we have a hard time showing appreciation for what God has done because we’re not happy with what we got. Maybe we feel like we’ve been short changed. Maybe we feel like we should have gotten something a lot sooner than we did. Or maybe for us, we’re just so frustrated with the hand that we’ve been dealt it just feels like we can’t be grateful for what God has done because it was too little or too late.

3. COMPARISON – I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE.

One of the main things that gets in the way of gratitude is comparison. Meaning I am so focused on what other people have that it’s hard for me to be grateful for what I have because I don’t have what they have. I want their stuff. I want their life. I want their relationships. I want to be like them.

Comparison kills gratitude. 

Maybe, just maybe, if we can learn to be grateful for what we already have, we will be ready for what comes next. Maybe we will get our miracle a little sooner if we stop focusing on everyone else’s life and we just begin to thank God for where we are… It might feel like you don’t have enough, it might feel like someone else got more than you, but God has been good to you. He never left you, even in the valley. Don’t let comparison kill your gratitude. 

4. ENTITLEMENT - I DESERVE WHAT I HAVE.

Perhaps sometimes we struggle to show appreciation for what God has done for us because  we feel we deserve it. I think in our own lives we forget to be grateful because we feel like God owes us something. He owes us a good family, a good job, He owes us a car when we turn 16, He owes us that college degree, and a great job, and on and on and on. Your God is a good Father and He gives good gifts but not because you deserve them, simply because He loves you. Entitlement says I deserve what God has done for me. Gratitude says I will never be worthy of all that God has done for me. 

While these things can keep us from gratitude, it’s important to know that gratitude can bring us closer to God. 

Ask yourself: 

1. What is getting in the way of my gratitude?

2. What has God done in my life?

3. Do I give God the gratitude He is due?