As promised, I am going to dive deeper into those 6 practices of G.L.O.R.Y. The image above is my personal tracking sheet to remind myself and help myself stay on track. I hope you create one of your own as a tool to show up each day as the best version of yourself. If you would like a copy of it, just leave a note in the comments and I will email you the one I use each day. Now on to the first letter of the G.L.O.R.Y. practice…
The first being G: Gratitude
I learned long ago that God loves a grateful heart. That He commands us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. (Psalm 100:4) There’s something in the action of giving thanks that changes us from feeling entitled to being humbled and aware of the kindness of God and others. An acknowledgment of how we had a need, God came through and provided it for us. Whether we knew we needed it or not. This is unmerited favor, pure grace. The word gratitude comes from the word, gratia, which means grace.
I grew up singing “Count Your Blessings, name them one by one….” But it wasn’t until I read Ann Voscamp’s “One Thousand Gifts; A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are” that I fully realized that every single day, there are gifts sprinkled throughout to show us His love. The sunrise through the fog on my morning walk, the glitter of the frost on the grass in late Fall, the way water reflects the landscape around it, the special smile of that grandchild. Then the milestone moments when there’s a prayer answered that you’ve prayed for years and almost gave up. Take time to remember and write them down for extra validation of the good life you have. Number them. Just 3 a day will give you 1,000 by this time next year! I heard that “great lifetimes are lived one great day at a time,” to which I would add – one grateful day at a time. That is why I think it’s best to record these gifts early every morning to jump-start a great new day.
Gratitude changes your brain for the better. Those feel-good transmitters, dopamine and serotonin get released because God built them in when He created you, to reward you for having a grateful heart. By continually practicing gratitude, neural pathways are strengthened so that it is easier for you to be optimistic, even if you are a more “glass half-empty” type. Thinking about what you are grateful for activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This activation reduces stress hormones, and in turn, brings your body more into calm. Couldn’t we all use less stress, especially aging menopausal women?! Would you like more joy in your days? Gratitude studies have shown that when we actively engage in a practice of gratitude, not just the attitude of it, but practice it by saying those things we are grateful for aloud, or writing them down, we are adding to the amount of joy we experience in our lives.
You may be thinking, dear reader, some things are hard to be thankful for. I’ve been there, but I’ve learned that if I am kind to myself and allow myself to feel the bad and grieve the sad, hard things, I find that the adversities in life, when given to God, can cause me to experience the closeness of God and the kindness of others.
Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep (guard) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Now who couldn’t use some of that? Also, remembering the promises in Scripture, such as, “In everything give thanks…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) we are taught that thankfulness is a sure-fire way to be in the will of God. We can trust Him for absolutely everything else.
As a Christian, I know that God in His goodness, only gives me good things, even though some things don’t seem so good when they cause me to struggle, or crush my spirit to the point of doubting His goodness. If you feel that way, I get it, but let me tell you, the times when I have felt the most crushed, I have felt the greatest comfort and presence of Jesus right there with me in it. And that is truly something or I should say, Someone to be grateful for.
So, I encourage you, even if it takes a few minutes to think of one thing you can truly thank Him for, take the time, find the thing in your memories of yesterday or the reality of your present or the hope of your future and write it down. Once you start, I guarantee you that the next one won’t take as long to come to you, then the next, and the next, and before you know it your brain will respond, your soul’s load will feel lighter and your day will be on the way to glorious!
Thanks for listening, God Bless You, Vickie
Glory Renewed 