Luke 17:15-19,  One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him ~ and he was a Samaritan.  Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed?  Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”  Then He said to him, “ Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Wow! Being healed of leprosy is a huge deal, you would think they would all have been running back to say thank you!  God brought this passage to mind this morning when I was getting ready for my prayer time and that was my thought, “ Wow! How many things has God either done for me or given me and I didn’t really take the time to be as grateful as I should be?”  

I have always thought I am always grateful but then I started thinking about how grateful and excited the Israelites were in the beginning when God brought them out of Egypt but then every time they turned around they complained about something.  Now, let’s face it, they were in a desert and ran out of water and they ate the same thing everyday, morning, noon, and night.  How would you react?  I think sometimes we are so spoiled we forget how great we have it.  I remember coming back to the U.S. after my trip to Africa and how grateful I was for a bathroom and clean water!  There are times we can even get so annoyed by a family member or other person God brought into our lives that we lose that gratitude for why God brought them to us in the first place.  When it comes to people we seriously need to constantly be in prayer asking God to help us love people the way He loves them!  We need to keep in mind we have our own issues other people have to put up with.  We all need to be working on our walk with God and those “issues” will resolve themselves and we need to be grateful for all God does for us!  An attitude of gratitude can make a huge difference!

How can we learn to show God the glory and gratitude we should be showing Him?  We can start by taking a good look around and seeing how blessed we are even if we don’t have everything we may want or the best of everything like someone else.  We can also ask Him to give us grateful hearts ~ Hearts that see the air we breathe as a blessing!  To see the children that are on your last nerve but are healthy and strong enough to do that, as one of the greatest gifts God has ever given you.  How about that pain in the neck boss of yours at that job God provided you with?  The list could go on and on but you get the point.  Sometimes we really aren’t as grateful as we should be and we need to get intentional to give God glory for ALL He is and all He does for us and in our lives.  Let’s set our hearts and minds to be thankful and to give Him praise for Who He is and all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives!  He is so amazing and He deserves our praise. With all of the evil going on in the world let’s determine to bless His heart with our thanksgiving and praise!  Let’s determine to put a smile on His face!

Quote:  “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”  ~ G.K.