Gratitude (4 of 5)
Series: Feeling Great About Life
Ryan Heller
Psalm 136
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1-3 (NIV)
Gratitude is a tough thing, isn't it? My mom always used to make me write thank you notes. I'm not like Jimmy Fallon. I'm not a thank you note machine. Mom made me write thank you notes for birthdays, Christmas, whatever. One year she said, ''You need to write your grandma a thank you note for the Christmas gift she gave you.'' I said, ''Mom, I asked Grandma for a video game, and instead she gave me some brown slacks. I'm not grateful.'' They were brown polyester-pleated brown polyester-and to make matters worse, she threw in a brown wool sweater. It was a scratchy, wool-type sweater with stripes on it. With the brown slacks. Grandma always bought everything two sizes too big so you could ''grow into it.'' I would say, ''Grandma, I'm trying to grow into last year's Christmas.'' She always loved that. (I think she was just buying stuff on the sale rack.)
Have you ever struggled with being grateful? It's hard, sometimes, yet there are so many benefits to it. I believe that, if we could learn to be grateful, and even more grateful, it would enhance our lives tremendously. In fact, physicians have found that people who are grateful actually experience a better life. A study was done on a group of adults who spent five minutes each day writing in a journal something they were grateful for, and over a six-month period, the doctors saw health improvements in these people. They noticed that stress hormones like cortisol were reduced by twenty-three percent. They noticed that it also reduced the effects of aging on the brain, and that people were less stressed by what was going on, simply by being grateful. Isn't that amazing? Health benefits.
There are so many other benefits t ...
Series: Feeling Great About Life
Ryan Heller
Psalm 136
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1-3 (NIV)
Gratitude is a tough thing, isn't it? My mom always used to make me write thank you notes. I'm not like Jimmy Fallon. I'm not a thank you note machine. Mom made me write thank you notes for birthdays, Christmas, whatever. One year she said, ''You need to write your grandma a thank you note for the Christmas gift she gave you.'' I said, ''Mom, I asked Grandma for a video game, and instead she gave me some brown slacks. I'm not grateful.'' They were brown polyester-pleated brown polyester-and to make matters worse, she threw in a brown wool sweater. It was a scratchy, wool-type sweater with stripes on it. With the brown slacks. Grandma always bought everything two sizes too big so you could ''grow into it.'' I would say, ''Grandma, I'm trying to grow into last year's Christmas.'' She always loved that. (I think she was just buying stuff on the sale rack.)
Have you ever struggled with being grateful? It's hard, sometimes, yet there are so many benefits to it. I believe that, if we could learn to be grateful, and even more grateful, it would enhance our lives tremendously. In fact, physicians have found that people who are grateful actually experience a better life. A study was done on a group of adults who spent five minutes each day writing in a journal something they were grateful for, and over a six-month period, the doctors saw health improvements in these people. They noticed that stress hormones like cortisol were reduced by twenty-three percent. They noticed that it also reduced the effects of aging on the brain, and that people were less stressed by what was going on, simply by being grateful. Isn't that amazing? Health benefits.
There are so many other benefits t ...
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