The Attitude of Gratitude...

I am all about peace, love, and joy– I’ve said before that I am definitely a child of the ‘70’s! When I was in high school, I cruised around in my parents’ old Pontiac with wire-rim glasses, long, straight hair, and hippy beads. “Peace” was our by-word. My bedroom door was filled with strings of beads, and when I was home, incense was burning in some weird jar on my dresser, and I was strumming the guitar. My airwaves were

A Rendition of My High School Days

 bouncing with John Denver, Bread, or The Beatles. I truly was a hippie-wanna-be! But I was never truly a hippie. Why? Goodness knows that countless others in my generation totally embraced the attitude and lifestyle of that culture that so changed America’s values and even our society’s vision of God.  

I know what happened – or didn’t happen – to me. I didn’t cross over into hippiedom because I never fully embraced the defining, life-changing elements of that culture – drugs and the sexual revolution. Thirty-plus years of hindsight makes me so grateful that I didn’t because I see the evolution of our culture due to those troubled years. And, as you know, what we see is not all that good.

There are three reasons why I didn’t choose that path. One was availability. I grew up in a small town, the daughter of a preacher, who gave a daily devotional and prayer on the school’s PA system every morning. I didn’t run with the crowd that got into drinking and drugs – and no one was chasing me down to offer them to me. At times, I thought I was not very cool, but I know God was protecting me. A second reason for not choosing that path was pure fear – of my parents! I loved life and sure didn’t want it to end prematurely. That might sound flippant, but I truly feared the anger of my parents, the disappointment in their eyes, and the alienation from them that it would bring. Lastly, there was something inside me that just knew  those choices were not right. That something was the Holy Spirit. I asked Jesus to be my savior when I was nine years old, and I was raised in an atmosphere of reverent respect for the Lord. Now don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t a perfect child and teenager. I have my share of wild stories, but I just never got comfortable even desiring those things that my generation was so quickly embracing. I am so very thankful to the Father that the whispers and sometimes yells of the Holy Spirit were heard by my heart and mind.

So, here I am, thirty years later, still all about peace, love, and joy, knowing that those are part of the fruit of the Spirit that lives inside me. I have experienced them and enjoy them immensely. But I wonder sometimes why I have peace one day, then worry or fear the next. I enjoy love and joy for a while only to realize that they have slipped away – again. What is keeping me from living in those attributes everyday? Again, I find myself faced with a choice. That choice is found in Philippians 4:6-7 but can be easily overlooked if I am not careful. Look at those two verses, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

With thanksgiving…The attitude of gratitude! If I want peace to guard my heart and mind, to keep it from going into the overdrive of irrational thought that leads to fear, insecurity, low self-worth, etc., I must come to Him thankful for everything that comes my way. Now, it’s easy to be thankful for the all the good in my life, but giving thanks for the insignificant, the not-so-good, and the really awful circumstances and situations is a different thing! Sometimes unfair and or even tragic things happen to me or to those I care about. I find it very challenging to be thankful in the midst of despair. The Apostle Paul was human; he knew as he penned those words that they were impossible for him or any of us to do. That’s why, a few verses later, he also reminded us that, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength.” (4:13) – Meaning having an attitude of gratitude in the most difficult of circumstances. Yes, I can do that! The Father can help me see the good, the possibilities, even the blessings that He will bring out of the darkest situations.

Once, I was a “hippie-wanna-be” who chose NOT to fully embrace “hippiedom.” That was good. Now I find myself being a “Jesus-wanna-be” choosing TO fully embrace His Kingdom and all that it offers me in this life and throughout eternity. That is good. I choose to have an attitude of gratitude – even when it’s too difficult for me because I know He will give me the strength.