That is some good stuff! Yes, we know it is a choice (though we often live as if we are mere pawns to our ever-vascillating emotions). But choosing gratitude is more than just an act of the will to be grateful. It is an action of choosing daily to renew our minds in the Scriptures. And that means saying no to some things so we can yes to time alone with the Lord. Maybe we need to say no to wasting a few minutes flipping through catalogues or browsing Facebook or channel surfing or window shopping. This doesn't mean we have to move to the desert and start eating locusts and wearing hair shirts. It just means asking God to show you how to carve out some time every single day to listen to what He wants to tell you that day to encourage you, guide you, convict you, strengthen you. Would we really rather gossip on the phone more than listen and learn and love the God of the Universe? Can we not give Him a few minutes of our day--a few minutes out of the 24 hours that He created and gave to each of us?
I have to admit, for me, reading God's Word has become such a joy and so necessary to keeping me at least moderately nice and unselfish, that my family probably doesn't want to be around me until I have been around the Savior! His Word changes our attitude and alters our perspective so that we cannot help but to become increasingly grateful (and wise and loving and joyful and on and on). So we need to make the commitment to read God's Word every single day, no matter what. Even if all you can do is read for just a minute or two, because, hey, we all have those kinds of days when life just simply falls apart and it's all you can do to put on your clothes! But don't leave the house without clothing your mind in His Word. He is, after all, the God of the heavens and the planets and the farthest stars--He can renew and recharge and redeem your mind even in just a moment. Rom. 12:2 "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
And don't forget what else Nancy Leigh DeMoss urges us to do: set our hearts to savor God and His gifts and discipline our tongues to speak words that reflect His goodness and grace. Setting our hearts to savor God is what I have been trying to do daily the past few weeks. Choosing to look--really look--at all the manifold evidences of God's overflowing greatness and goodness to us causes us to eschew grumpiness in favor of gratitude, worry in favor of worship, complaining in favor of contentment. Not to mention it makes us a lot more fun to be around (just ask my husband--he just suggested I go write in my blog when I let slip a complaint about my creaky back). The funny thing is, the more you choose to be grateful and seek to look for reasons to rejoice, the more you find them and the more joyful and content you find yourself--even when your circumstances or challenges have not changed one iota. You gotta love that!
Finally the tongue. Fortunately, we women have no problem with this one at all! We are masters at discipling our tongues and using them only to edify and encourage. Just ask our husbands. Or our children.
Well, actually, don't ask mine. And I'm guessing we shouldn't ask yours either. The way I see it, nagging or fussing or lecturing or complaining don't qualify as tongues that reflect God's abundant goodness and grace. I know, I know--if only they would listen to our brilliant instructions and well intentioned nagging, umm, I mean, advising, what a better world it would be! But since that isn't likely to happen until all the planets and stars align and a heavenly chorus sings of our superior intelligence, I assume the better option would be to choose to have mouths that encourage and edify and build up those in our homes, our work places, and our lives. Eph.4:29 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Boy, I want to be a grace-giver, not a burden-multiplier. How amazing is that? We can be the conduits of God's amazing, glorious grace in the lives of those around us simply by choosing to use our tongues to build up rather than to tear down. By choosing to speak words of blessing rather than grumbling.
So, there you have it--renew your mind in God's Word, set your heart to savor God's goodness, and use your tongue to encourage and give grace. Think you can do it? Nope? Well, neither can I--but the Holy Spirit can in us and through us. Emmanuel--God with us, God in us, God for us, God through us. God empowering and enabling us--one mind, one heart, one tongue at a time, one day at a time. And to Him be the glory forever.
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