Gratitude is the key to Happiness

The key to a Joy-filled life is Gratitude

Life truly is great isn’t it?  It really is.  Yet, so many of us are so unhappy, discouraged, and unsatisfied.  Depression is on the rise.

It seems that unhappiness is on the rise and we are increasingly becoming an unsatisfied and depressed culture.  It’s not hard to look around and see hopelessness, blame, ingratitude, and worry.

And the great part is - is that we can look around at others and see how terribly ungrateful they are, but we seldom apply that to ourselves.  I wonder how many more negative things I say in a day than I do positive things.  Do you complain to your spouse about every person that you finish a conversation with?  Do you have a debriefing after each human interaction you have?

John Yates writes, “Our churches and homes can be places of joy. They will be if we learn some of the secrets of joy. I believe one of the secrets of a joyful spirit is coming to understand the graciousness of God. This mighty, holy, awesome God, whom we worship, is at heart a gracious, generous, giving, compassionate, merciful person who cares about you more than you care about you.  If we can come to appreciate and understand this, and let it work its way through our lives—our thoughts, our emotions, our relationships—we can be transformed by the grace of God. We will become more thankful people, and thankful people are joyful people. Thanksgiving Day is nearly here, and it's an appropriate time to reflect on this.”

It’s normal to be a complainer.  I live where you live.  It’s normal to complain about the service we received at the restaurant.  It’s normal to complain about the price of....well.....everything.  It’s normal to say how much harder life to used to be.  It’s normal to be negative.  It’s normal to take the negative side in conversations.

I know it is, because it’s such a surprising joy to meet those odd people who have positive, grateful outlooks.  You know, those people who seem to be happy and laughing even though, by all comparison, they actually have something big to complain about.

To battle against our societal norms I believe that Churches need to become places of joy by responding thankfully to God’s graciousness.

Luke 17:7-10, ““Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

This is a good lesson to look at now.  Jesus owes us nothing.  Jesus is not in debt to us.  At no point can we think that Jesus owes us anything.  We are merely doing what servants should do.

You are wonderful.  You are important.  You are loved.  But, don’t take it too far.  There is no point where you and Jesus have become equals.  You are His servant, he is not yours.  Our position to Jesus is always one of servant.  He is the Master.  We are his servants.  When we have done our duty to Jesus he owes us no more than he has already given.  In fact, he didn’t owe us that either.

The first step in finding happiness and joy, is to recognize our proper relationship to Jesus is one of beloved servant.

Now, Jesus has established that we are his servants.  We are not equal to him.  We should do our duty to our fullest and expect no more than the wonderful gift that He has promised us.  He doesn’t need to tip us.

Much like putting out a tip jar makes us feel like we have to tip you, gratitude is rarely expressed.  Think over the conversations that you have with people in a day.  How much time is devoted to what you are thankful for and how much time is devoted to complaining?

We are an entitled people.  A sense of entitlement leads to unhappiness.

From an article in the Wall Street Journal.

A growing body of research has tied an attitude of gratitude with a number of positive emotional and physical health benefits. A November 2010 article in The Wall Street Journal summarized the research:  Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They're also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy, or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly, and have greater resistance to viral infections.  Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. [Studies also show that] kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches, and feel more satisfied with their friends, families, and schools than those who don't.  The researchers concluded, "A lot of these findings are things we learned in kindergarten or our grandmothers told us, but now we have scientific evidence to prove them …. The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table."

All that we have is a gift.  It’s the ability to see it that way that’s the key to a happy life.