For Christmas I was given a calendar which is all about gratitude. Although not specifically Christian this calendar reminds me that gratitude is a very Christian attribute.
This month, February, I read ‘A heart that gives thanks is a happy heart.’ In this dull, cold month I look out of my study window. While the rest of the country has snow with all it’s pros and cons, we have the thinnest layer of snow which as it rains is turning to ice, a lethal combination for anyone over 50.
As I consider how I’m going to safely get to the shops, I stop to think about a ‘happy heart.’ Am I giving thanks to the God who has sent this ice and snow for the rest of the country? Because everything is under His control this weather is in His plan. Then I look again and see th3e smallest cluster of snowdrops in my garden. A promise of spring and time I can spend in the garden.
I spy a lone robin foraging amongst the seed I have scattered on the lawn. God cares for the birds, surely He will care for me. Then I can give thanks for all His many blessings, the physical ones, the spiritual ones. No, the sun is not shining in my city but it is shining in my heart.