Making Our Father Smile

We’ve been talking about gratitude on Tuesday Mornings and it got me thinking.  Doesn’t a thankful heart always make you smile?

As a football mom, I’ve had the privilege of helping feed the football team several times this season. Each time, my heart was blessed by the number of young men who remembered to tell us thank you. Whether it was due to good parenting or reminders from their teammates and coaches, the number of thank you’s we’d receive was close to 100%. Would we have fed them if they hadn’t voiced their thanks? Of course, but those two simple words made our task so much more enjoyable.

Gratitude can be easy to remember when you’re in the midst of something pleasurable, but what about when life gets hard? Do we still remember to be thankful? Another athlete who always brought a smile to our mom hearts this season was a friend of my daughter’s on the cross country team.  As parents, we would stand at different spots along the course to cheer our athletes on.  No matter where we stood during the race, when we yelled encouragement to this particular girl, she would always smile and say thank you. In the midst of the battle . . . on the steepest hills . . . when her side had a stitch . . . when she was struggling for air . . . when her knees began to hurt –still, she’d smile and say thank you.

Don’t you want that type of attitude? One that can be grateful no matter what the circumstances? I’m pretty sure a heart like that will make our Father smile.

 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.    Colossians 3:17