I shall not squander the life given to me by my Creator! In the words of someone I admire,
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2: 8,9
You can call me selfish, I suppose, but I want every single ounce of grace that God is offering. I’m not forfeiting any of it!
Just sayin…
Here, have a cookie…
So, I did the ole Google is our friend play for this prompt, just to see how helpful the www can be in seeing what the collective minds came up with, before I try to answer…
The first thing I typed was “ways to express gratitude”, and the first thing that popped up was a list of the top 10, and as I suspected, they were all actually words of action, or Verbish behavior…
Lets break this list down a bit…
Ok, I gotta ask… who should I write a letter to and why…
I spend all day alone, for the most part so the active listener has to be loosely interpreted…
I do walk most days…
And I am not sure it fits here, as one may not consider it a thoughtful gift, but I have given away my coffee cup to a homeless person… with coffee and my favorite creamer still in it, so I am going to say it fits here…
I do actually keep a gratitude journal, and I do write in it, but I also do a lot of other writing… on the computer… in a journal… all over in my bible… Lets move on, as I am beginning to sound like a Doctor Seuss story…
Come on Google… Be specific??? How ambiguous is this? Be specific about what… where… when… who… and how… really?
My husband and I try to be consistently offer help to others, but as I am most often very secluded, my opportunities are limited, but certainly ready to be employed if someone is in need…
Cook something I love… hmmm… I got nothing here…
Overall, this list seems “alright” I guess… some pretty good suggestions here, though there were a few that have left me perplexed.
So, I changed the question a bit, by asking Google “ways to express gratitude from Scripture”. I got another list, shorter this time…
Sorry Google, this one was just awful… The bible is not nearly as boring and ambiguous as you have tried to make it seem. This list has to be the laziest list for such a smart computer engine. This is it? Thank this and thank that… no action at all… maybe that is why the world seems to have an absence of love for ones fellow man, more often than not.
When I changed my question up to simply ask for a number of verses in the bible that use the word gratitude or write about being grateful or thankful, that was when the good ole www went nuts… it loves numbers. I am not even going to attempt to quote all of the different numbers thrown out there, but it is safe to say that the bible has a LOT to say about this subject.
Long story short, in an effort to answer the prompt question, I have come to an insight, for me, about how I express my gratitude.
It is you… It is this blog… this is my action, my verbage of Gratitude. When I write here on this site, telling my silly stories, offering virtual cookies (hugs), chatting and commenting on others written thoughts, this is my way of acting out my gratitude to God, for His protection, guidance, and grace for me. I share it with you…
Journey With Me! 