Overflowing with Thankfulness

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, November 20, 2006

Thanksgiving–it's turkey time again! As we begin this Thanksgiving week I thought it might be a good idea to talk about being thankful. Paul wrote to the Colossians:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7)

Overflowing with thankfulness–that's what we should be if we have received Christ Jesus as our Lord and are continuing to grow in our faith. In other words, thankfulness is supposed to be a trademark of a Christian.

Ask yourself this question: Would people who know you well–who are around you often and see you in real-life environments regularly–would they describe you as a thankful person? Do you overflow with thankfulness? If something is overflowing, people would notice, don't you think?

This is a characteristic I've been trying to cultivate more and more in my life because I want to be thankful for all my many, many blessings. But also because being thankful is a major stress buster! I'm not kidding; one of the best things you can do to reduce your stress, lower your blood pressure, and lengthen your life is to practice thankfulness.

Notice I said "practice thankfulness." You see, it's really easy to get caught up in complaining because that's what we hear around us quite often. Don't you hear a good bit of griping and complaining where you work? Well, you might have caught that disease without realizing it. So, you need to practice thankfulness.

Here are some suggestions to help you do that.

1. Put a sign on your desk or your mirror that says "Overflow with thankfulness today." I think we just sometimes need simple reminders. It sure wouldn’t hurt.

2. Put on thankfulness each morning before you leave home. Colossians 3 gives us a list of garments that we should put on each day as God's chosen people, and at the end of this list we read: "And be thankful." So, while you're buttoning your shirt or putting on your shoes, just make a little ritual each day of saying, "And I'm also putting on thankfulness to wear all day today."