Some people might say that happy people become thankful people. But perhaps it’s the other way around: It’s the thankful people who are happy.
I saw the power of gratitude recently after my dad went through a health crisis that resulted in a partial amputation of his right leg. A few hours after surgery, our family packed into Dad’s hospital room. Through tears, I listened as Dad detailed a long list of all that he was grateful for: his family, his doctors, his faith.
He didn’t focus on what he’d lost—“If only I had both of my legs.” He focused on what he still had. Dad’s doctors believe that his attitude had a profound effect on his healing—and his happiness.
Gratitude is powerful. Gratitude acknowledges the goodness in our lives as they exist today, not as we wish them to be.
Will we be the lone leper who comes back to thank Jesus? Jesus healed ten people in all. Imagine their happiness! Imagine the spring in their steps as they skipped away from their healer, eager to live a new life. And skip away they did. Nine of them walked on, backs to Jesus, without so much as a thank you.
All but one.
All ten lepers had reason to be happy. But only the one who offered gratitude experienced a more potent kind of happiness.
Think of gratitude-based happiness as multiplied happiness. When we stop to say thank you, we bring delight to the Giver. Furthermore, we are given an extra happiness tied directly to our gratitude. Our thankfulness is more than the polite response for a gift. It’s the heart-moving response that stretches all the way to the Giver.
Jennifer Dukes Lee is the author of The Happiness Dare. You can connect with her on Twitter and Instagram at @dukeslee. Take her quiz at www.TheHappinessDare.com and discover what truly makes you happy. This devotion is adapted from The Happiness Dare copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Dukes Lee. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
