By Kathi Pelton
There are so many that have begun their “New Year Resolutions”— such as eating healthier, exercising, decluttering, reading their Bible each day, less phone time, etc. These are all good and I pray that they last for you throughout the year. But, there is a resolution that will revolutionize your daily life and that is the resolution to practice gratitude everyday— until it overflows.
Gratitude is an act that will align your soul with the joy of the Lord. It also does the amazing work of realigning your perspective to the perspective of heaven. This world will try to pull you down and give you many reasons to become dull, thankless, cynical, depressed and miserable but Jesus has overcome the world and in Him we can overcome the things in the world around us by being a people that overflow with gratitude. It is hard to be downcast when your head is lifted high in thanksgiving.
Yesterday I saw a news report that featured a family that had lost their home in the LA wildfires. A dad, mom and their three kids were in a hotel room together and the mom began to cry as they showed her the photos of their family home that had been reduced to ashes but through her tears she had a smile. Then she looked at the reporter and said,
“I have everything I need and want right here in this room. I am so grateful for all that I have.”
Her gratitude for her family overflowed with such love and joy that there was no doubting its authenticity. She wasn’t crying over what they lost but rather she was crying with gratitude for all that they had.
I try to practice this kind of grateful lifestyle daily. I’m not in denial of the hard things that happen around the world or even to me personally but I cannot afford to give those things what I call “the land of my life.”I want a life built on the joy of the Lord and for my focus to be on what I have— not on what desires to pull me down or what I do not have.
This is one of the keys to being a victor rather than a victim— GRATITUDE!
Of course there are times that come into all of our lives that we need to grieve but I have found that even in grief we can maintain gratitude. For me, it is the key to not getting stuck in a “spirit of death” but to continually choose life and blessings even amid seasons of pain (Deuteronomy 30). You can weep and have gratitude simultaneously.
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Colossians 3:1-2
Then it goes on to say further along in the chapter,
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:16-17
As those in Christ— we are rich! We have so much to be grateful for and to give thanks for. Last year I made a decision to find beauty every day— in something or somewhere. It actually wasn’t very hard to do. As I practiced this, beauty became highlighted all around me because I had determined have my eyes to look for it. I found myself in awe so many times throughout 2024 at the beauty all around me.
In 2025 I am setting my heart to add overflowing gratitude to that beauty. Not just gratitude but overflowing gratitude so that those around me may receive the overflow!
Will you join me in this resolution that will revolutionize your life? Let God’s people be known as the most grateful people on earth. Let our gratitude overflow with such riches that the world become hungry for what we have. May the world around us receive the overflow of Christ in us as we move throughout this year.
GIVE A GIFT OF GRATITUDE TODAY!
Kathi Pelton’s New Book
Get it on Amazon Books, at Barnes & Nobles or through any bookstore internationally.
Oceans in the Desert 
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