Recently I read a study about the relationship between gratitude and longevity that involved thousands of participants over a long period of time.  It showed that those who experienced gratitude tend to live longer than those who did not experience gratitude. Further, the study showed that those who experienced gratitude tend to have a better physical and emotional well-being.  And one of the groups that was identified with a high level of gratitude was the religious folks.  Well, it is nice to know that gratitude pays off.

The Bible is replete with the admonishment to be grateful to God; one of the places where we can find it is in Philippians, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (4:6-7). It is so easy to be distracted by life’s problems that we often miss seeing all the good God has given us and done in our lives. We can’t get rid of the problems we are facing by wiping them off our minds.  What the Bible teaches us to do it to pray about everything, to bring everything to God’s attention, and “thank Him for all He has done.”   

In her book, My Lord, What A Morning, Marian Anderson, the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera, writes that she cannot remember “a single complaint” from her mother who worked as a cleaner in a store; she’s always thankful.  Marian grew up to be like her mother; she was humble and grateful for her gifts, and she always attributed her success to God, not her doing, as testified in the book’s foreword by her nephew, James Anderson Depreist, who himself was a world-renowned conductor.  One humble and thankful mother bred one humble and thankful daughter, who later bred one humble and thankful nephew.  

Pastor Paul