True gratefulness is courage to give thanks for a gift before unwrapping it.
–Br. David Steindl-Rast
Starting your day with gratefulness is an act of faith. We are more inclined to start the day arming ourselves for what we anticipate is to come. For some of us, that’s a sigh and resignation (especially on a bleak, grey morning). For others, it’s the works – hair, outfit, power pose. Our battle gear might even be a cheery disposition as we prepare to step into action and lift the spirits of those around us.
But starting with a prayer of thanks is something entirely different. It is putting our trust in things unseen, stepping into a promise that God has for us, but has not yet come to be. It is not arming, but disarming ourselves.
To start with thanks to God is to swap out what we believe in. We can start the day trusting ourselves, the way things “have always been,” the news, our investments, our schedule, our systems, and so prepare to make the day our own.
Or we can put our trust in the Lord. Which is to say, we believe what the Lord says when he says he loves us and wants what’s best for us.
We can give the day to him by receiving it, and all of it, with thanks.
Start the day with gratefulness and may you meet the Lord and his goodness in it.
In Everything 