THE STORY
A few years ago, a commercial on television began with a white and black clip of Lou Gehrig being honored by Yankee fans on his last day of play. His career was shortened by ALS, which is now called Lou Gehrig’s disease, a debilitating disease that eventually stops the heart.
What would you have said in the face of this heartbreaking challenge? Amazingly Gehrig begins, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
How could he say that? Gratitude. Gratitude for all the gifts he had been given, for all the love he had been shown by fans, for all the opportunities he had. He focused on the joys not the losses. That’s cultivating thankfulness.
VERSE
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as a members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15
POINT
Being thankful doesn’t come easy for some of us, but God says to cultivate thankfulness. How do you cultivate anything? You work on it. You do whatever it takes to make it thrive. Gratitude comes from humility. “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” Henry Ward Beecher
The price that Christ paid so you could be redeemed is immense. His grace is so amazing. You truly are the luckiest person on the face of the earth!
