Showing Gratitude, Or Just Lip-Service?

Wisdom Nugget: "In every thing give thanks...In every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude."

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We may offer fervent expressions of gratitude in the prayer meeting and sing aloud in the praise service, but our real sense of indebtedness must manifest itself in more practical ways.

A king had saved the life of one of his subjects, and every day afterwards she came to his gate with protestations of gratitude. "I can never begin to pay the debt I owe him," she bewailed. One day the king, in his chariot, passed her cottage. He saw in her garden a tree bearing some luscious fruit, and was seized with a desire to taste it. When he sent his servant with the request that he be given some of the fruit to take to the king, she replied that she only had enough fruit to meet her own needs. She thus laid bare the fact that her expressions of gratitude had been mere words which lacked the element of truthfulness.

Beloved, we must understand that "being grateful" isn't just a feeling, it also includes "giving" in response to that gratefulness you feel, either to that person or reason to whom you're grateful, for which you're grateful. This "giving" could be translated into material gifts (sometimes), or just verbal acknowledgement in some other instances.

Tony Robbins says of gratefulness, "When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears."

And Albert Einstein adds, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."