READ THIS
{today is Part II of our four-part series on Ingratitude}
When we lack gratitude, we start to think that we’re the source of all we get. We earned things, we created them, we did this all on our own.
When we are unwilling to accept our good fortune as given to us, the flip side is when we hit the tough times in life we feel like everything is falling apart.
If we thought we were solely (or mostly) responsible for the good times, we logically have to hold ourselves responsible for the bad.
Unwilling to accept things might just be hard, we struggle to force our life back into a place of what we felt was happiness. We did this to ourselves – we have to undo it.
Ingratitude then not only makes us proud when we are doing well but devastates us when things are not.
We have no one to thank, but then also no one or nothing that explains anything that happens. Ingratitude eventually will make us not only the center of our universe but the sole actor in it.
We feel compelled to find a way to solve things, all things. This is an incredible burden to bear. Thinking we need to fix everything in life is a weight that we were just not created to carry.
DO THIS
What failure have you held yourself responsible for. Maybe it was your fault – but perhaps not. Drill down thorough your own responses with series of “but why”
It was my fault I didn’t get the job.
But Why?
Because I was a less impressive candidate than the others.
But why?
etc. etc. etc
When you get to the end – maybe it was something you could have done something about. If not – is there a sense of arrogance behind it all? Do you feel responsible because you have an over-inflated sense of the influence you have over your life?
PRAY THIS
God of power, control, and eternal knowledge,
you know what is going on, and why.
Give me a healthy sense of my own influence,
Help me see when I can do something,
And when I need to rest in your care
Amen
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