Embrace your narrative. What does this mean? To me, it means, finding gratitude for the life you have and knowing who you are. Figure out what's MOST important to you. For me, that's my faith in God. Because of Jesus, I'm a child of God, loved and forgiven. Everything else is a bonus!

If you practice gratitude it will become more and more a part of who you are. It’s a psychological muscle that becomes stronger the more you use it. You start to change the neural pathways in your brain when you’re intentional in thanksgiving. You become a more optimistic person.

“It’s not happiness that makes us happy. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy.” –David Stendl-Rast (TED )

Start cataloguing what you’re grateful for every day. Don’t just keep it to yourself, either. Tell God what you’re thankful for! Tell people around you how much you appreciate them, being specific in your praise. Sometimes we assume that our loved ones know we’re grateful for them. But they need to hear it!

To make the practice of gratitude more of a part of your daily habits, I suggest the following:

1. Commit to it.

It becomes easier with practice!

2. Make it part of your routine

Pick a fixed time if that helps. I like to spend those first nine minutes between the first time I hit my snooze button and when my final alarm goes off in the morning thanking God for the new day, for my family, for my home, my friends, etc.

3. Make yourself accountable to someone

Tell someone else what you’ve committed to and you’ll be more likely to follow through.

4. Write it down

A journal of what you’re thankful is helpful. It could be as simple as one line a day.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

There are countless benefits to practicing gratitude. Of course, the most important reason to give thanks is because God tells us to in the Bible.

Numerous scientific studies have proven that grateful people are happier, have more capacity for compassion, place less importance on materialism, are more likely to make progress on personal goals, and are more likely to exercise and feel healthier.

This week, together, let’s make an intentional effort to be more grateful!

Now, as part of our Sabbath interview series, I’m happy to introduce you to someone I’m thankful for, my dear friend, Marva Smith, writer at Sun Sparkle Shine!

For today's PDF file click HERE

If you'd like, tell us what you're grateful for today in the comments!

SABBATH: Gratitude