Are you prone to seasons of unhappiness or momentary depression? I found your new drug but you can’t get it at CVS or Walgreen’s. If anything those places can potentially make the situation I talking about here worse. What I’m talking about is not in pill form and is non-habit forming.
It’s called gratitude.
“Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
Author and Christian Apologist Francis Schaeffer 
said that lack gratitude was the foundation for breaking any of the Ten Commandments. The bookends of the Ten Commandments are (1) “Don’t have any other gods before me”, and (2) “Don’t covet your neighbors belongings.”
- Having other gods before God is done out of a thankless and dissatisfied heart in all that God is and has done for me.
- Coveting things that belong to others is a result of dissatisfaction in what I’ve been given.
Scheaffer claims that any commandment broken is a result of breaking the first and the last ones. This is why James 2:10 says that failing in one part of the law makes the whole thing collapse.
“For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all.”
If happiness is what you want than gratitude is what you need. If you think you deserve this (**hand high representing a lot**) but you actually get this (**hand low representing not much**) everything in between is stress, bitterness, and ingratitude.
If you know you only deserve this (**hand low representing not much**) and actually get this (**hand high representing a lot**) everything in between in gravy, ice cream on top of the piece of apple pie, and gratitude.
In order to access the path to true happiness, I offer the following:
- Thank God for all that He’s done for you.
- Call, or write thank you cards, to 3 people today that you are thankful for and tell them why you appreciate them.
- Give something of significance away with no strings attached.
I encouraged someone recently that I’m coaching to do this. He is a hunter and likes to use a compound bow. I don’t know that much about bows but from what he said it was worth over $800. He posted something on Facebook about it and a guy from work called him and asked what he wanted for it.
“Nothing”
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?”
“‘Nothing’ means I want to give it to you with nothing in return.”
He said that this freed him up from some material anxiety that he’d been experiencing and hasn’t felt this good in a long time. I was so proud of him and I want the same thing for you!
As your stuffing yourself this Thursday, say ‘thank you’ to those that prepared the meal, tip the barista a few bucks extra for working on Thanksgiving (because they don’t have a choice at Starbucks), or bring an apple pie down to the fire station.
I hope your Thanksgiving is the best one yet, but before you get your FULL on Thursday, get your thankFULL on today – and then help with the dishes!
Tim Holman, Writer 