Expressing gratitude to God and men brings honor from our very hearts. It is said that nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. Who does not want to be honored? Even God Himself appreciates being honored
However, a lot of people are very grateful but are not intentional about expressing it.
In this article, I like to shed light on some of the blessings we receive when we intentionally express gratitude and share a few tips on how we can express gratitude.
There are many blessings we receive by giving gratitude. Here are the three I would like to share now.
One, expressing gratitude gives honor to God and men.. This positions you for more honor. If you express appreciation to someone today, he’s more likely to do more for you in the future. Even God said He will honor those who honor Him. This further deepens your relationship with a person that is being appreciated.
It encourages other people who may otherwise have felt discouraged by the ungrateful attitude of others.
After we lived for 20 years in our new country, we took time to reflect on the people who played different roles in our lives as a family, and specifically reached out to them to express gratitude for what they did to us many years back. The impact was amazing to us because we did not expect it. Two of the people we called were going through emotional pain of the treatment they received from the people they just helped. They were at the point they were wondering if it was worth helping people at all. They each expressed to us that our call was actually healing balm to their emotions
Gratitude can lift you up from your challenges and strengthen you for victory. Some years ago I was trying to encourage a precious mother, who just lost her son. The death anniversary coincided with her birthday and her wedding anniversary. So I knew that the day was going to be a mixed emotions for her, which I did not know how to handle. Surprisingly, her response was very uplifting. She expressed gratitude to God that her son was with God in heaven because her son had peace with his maker before he passed away.
This mother’s attitude of gratitude helped her to overcome what could’ve been a lifetime of depression and sadness on the occasion of her birthday and her wedding anniversary for the rest of her life. Someone said evidence of a great faith is not getting what you want and still be able to say thank you Lord
Now let’s talk about 3 tips on how to be more intentional in expressing our gratitude to God and men
The first one is to tie your gratitude to milestones. Such events include major wedding and birthday milestones, work anniversary, and major milestones of relocating into a new country if you’re like me. Mark your calendars and identify people who have played significant roles relating to this milestone. For instance, the person that came to welcome you at the airport when you relocated with your family 10 years ago. The hiring manager who first hired you on a job where you have been for five years . Or your pastor who helped you to secure the first accommodation in your new country. Or a mentor whom the Lord used to bring you out of obscurity to a limelight.
Secondly, think about some of the people that were just mentioned, and the specific roles they played in your life.
Thirdly, reach out to them specifically to thank them for the specific roles they have played. You can do that by sending them a simple text message, phone call email or thank you card or you can decide to pay them a surprise visit. A good example of this was when a Bishop who has become a founder of a church with the biggest church auditorium on the planet today suddenly visited the missionary who led him to Christ over 40 years ago when the missionary was on the mission in Africa. The missionary did not initially notice, but when he introduced himself, the woman could not contain her joy.
Let me close with the words of Michelle Obama who said we learned about gratitude and humility that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors, who kept our school clean …. and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution, and treat everyone with respect .
I believe that this is true of every one of us and a key lesson to appreciate everyone’s contribution to our success story.
As I conclude today, I have shared with us some of the blessings we receive when we express gratitude to God and men. I also shared three tips on how to be more intentional in expressing our gratitude.
