Reflections on Spending One-Hour Thanking God - Happiness

Our Week of Prayer continues at Grace Fellowship Church. Last night we devoted our meeting to thanksgiving. I don’t think I have ever observed so clearly the relationship between gratitude and happiness. As the night progressed and folks thought of more and more things for which to thank God, my joy rapidly increased.

Gratitude seems to do the same thing confession does – make you happy in God.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17 ESV)

There is not a single good thing in our lives that is self-generated or self-maintained. All our good is a gift from Him. This is profound. Especially if you are willing to believe that every breath, every beat of your temporary heart, is a “good gift.” How many times does my heart beat in a day? (On average 75 beats per minute… 1440 minutes in a day… 108,000 gifts a day… almost half of which I receive while sleeping!) Every day I have over 100,000 reasons to thank God.

The power of giving thanks is that it reminds me what an amazing Benefactor our God is to us and all the world. And this makes me very happy.