I think two little words can change your whole outlook. Those two little words are this: thank you.
I’m learning that there are two ways to look at my life. One is to see all the things I don’t have and how I am still single and dateless and to be bitter and discouraged. The other way is to see what I do have in my family and friends. In other words, the perfect antidote to all my bitterness and discouragement and despair is an attitude of gratitude.
Learning to say, “Thank you” reminds me that I am not owed or entitled to anything, but that everything that I have and everything that comes my way is a gift. Even the air I breathe and my ability to breathe it is a gift. Every single heartbeat God gives me is a gift. The fact that I am not in hell right now is because of grace, and grace is the ultimate gift. I am utterly and completely dependent on God, so when anything good happens to me, all I can say is “Thank you.”
Learning to say, “Thank you” helps me to see God in my world. Everytime I choose to focus on the gifts, I can’t help but notice the Giver. Ultimately, I see that the greatest gift God gives me is Himself– all of Him dwelling inside me and transforming me from the inside out.
Finally, learning to say “Thank you” keeps me looking past the immediate present and the tyranny of the urgent to what is eternal and what really matters. I can even look at my suffering and setbacks and losses with the view that God only takes something away from me to give me something way better, either in this life or in Heaven. God works everything in my life and uses everything and everyone in my life for the good purpose of making me more like Jesus.
God has promised me that one day I will be finally and fully conformed into the image of Jesus. So thank you, God in advance!
May you learn the power of two little words to radically change the way you see your world. Start saying “Thank you” and see how your outlook is improved. If only for the fact that God is with you and for you and on your side, you have all the reason in the world to be thankful.
Amen and amen!
Ragamuffingospelfan's Blog 
Great post and absolutely true that gratitude and our love toward God is all we can give Him.
This just echoes the lesson we had in Sunday School this morning about thanksgiving. It is the means by which we are told to enter the presence of God in prayer. Thank you for a great reminder! Ps. 100:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”