Tearfund Lent Devotional Day 24

The gratitude solution

‘Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV)

Gratitude is not an easy thing to practice at times like these. When living through such a lengthy period of uncertainty and sorrow, giving thanks can feel like the last thing we want to do.

But what if gratitude did not need to be a casualty of these difficult days, and instead could be a remedy for them?

Gratitude is an antidote to despair. It reminds us that, no matter what else is going on, there is always much we can love. It is often when gratitude feels like the hardest thing to do that it is the most important thing to do. You do not need to feel grateful to give thanks, but giving thanks can make you feel more grateful.

We are unlikely to protect what we do not love, and we are unlikely to love what we do not know. Gratitude can bring us into a greater knowing of the world; it nourishes our love, making it grow and, in doing so, making us want to do more to protect it.

Try one of these three prayer exercises over the next few days: say grace before a meal, offering thanks for the food and the people who grew it. Take a gratitude walk, in which you observe the world around you and give thanks for what you see. Or keep a gratitude journal, in which every day you thank God for something about creation that you love.

Gideon Heugh

Gideon writes for Tearfund and is a poet and environmentalist