Intentional Gratefulness

“Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” 

Luke 17:17-18

Ten lepers were healed by Jesus, but only one came back to “glorify God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.”

We do not want to be like the 9 lepers, who did not even turn back to express their gratitude to God for their healing. They took it for granted. They were perhaps too busy greeting their family and friends, and making plans of what they could do now they were no longer outcasts. 

I look back at my prayer journal, and although I have a list of blessings, I see days when I do not list even one. I have to be more conscious, more awake, more aware of how God gives us gifts all the time. Sunshine, rain, the air we breathe, each ordinary day. When I was young, I liked excitement, but now I revel in ordinary days. 

Scientific studies show that gratitude expressed and shared, restructures our brain, physically remaps the connections in our brain, and unlocks happiness and even, joy. Digging up bad memories, hurts, traumatic experiences, reinforces the negative and holds us back. So let us be INTENTIONALLY grateful, and let that gratefulness overflow into blessing for others.