Caught in the CloseoutSample

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

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

—1 Thessalonians 5:18

It’s easy to express gratitude—a real spirit of thankfulness—when things are going well. Say you’re having a session where all the cards fall your way: you’re consistently picking off the best waves in the set and ripping them all the way to the sand.

But not every day is like that day. Say you hit your local reef or point set-up on a good double overhead swell with the tide dropping out a bit and the wind still calm, even though it’s the middle of the day. You jog on the point and time your go out well, not taking too many waves on the head. Your energy is conserved, ready to ride waves. Out in the line-up, you sit and wait.

And wait. And watch. Watch as other surfers around you pick off waves and ride them cleanly. Wanting to exercise good surf etiquette, you refrain from burning them on the shoulder. You wait. And still, no waves come your way.

There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in any given surf session: dings, run-ins with the locals, blowing the wave of the day with your friends cackling as they watch from the channel.

But the Scripture doesn’t tell us, “Give thanks when things are going well and you’re feeling great.” No! The verse today says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.”

It’s so important to cultivate an attitude of gratitude; a sense of thankfulness that doesn’t depend on your circumstances or your feelings but on the deep reality of God’s love and presence in your life.

Because He loves you when things are going well. And He loves you when things are not.

So in this plan we’ll explore how to recognize God’s goodness and love for you in your good times and your bad—and how you can grow in gratitude through all life throws your way.

Because with thankfulness woven in, you can’t go wrong. It’s always right to give thanks. It always fits.

Go Deeper:

• What does gratitude look like for you in your life? Are there some moments in your life when you find yourself refusing to be grateful?
• How can you begin to deliberately build more moments of gratitude into your life?