The Blessing of Gratitude Latitude

I got to thinking one morning, on an innocent-enough bicycle ride, do atheists experience gratitude for their lives, and, if so, what do they attribute their gratitude to?

The more I thought about the plethora of stimuli before my eyes and within my heart as I rode my bike that day, regarding the joy I was experiencing, the more I thought about the implications of gratitude as they pave their way toward God-blessed joy.

Then God dropped into my consciousness the term “gratitude latitude,” meaning the wider we take our gratitude the more blessed of joy we become. If we could be grateful for all things, the little and the large, the pleasurable and the painful, for both the busy and quiet times, surely we would experience more joy of the Lord.

Accounting for the Wideness of Joy

If we agree, as an investment regarding our attitude, that gratitude corresponds with joy, then we can begin to appreciate that both gratitude and joy have a broad wideness about them. Not only are they linked, but the more we invest in one the more we experience the other.

The more grateful we are in life the more joy we experience.

The wideness of joy is truly a magnificent prospect. God holds us to no limit regarding joy, and there are joys so much more plentiful than any of us have experienced. They lie in wait for us, commensurate in accord with our gratitude.

Gratitude is the key.

When we are able to see the hundreds, indeed thousands, of things we can and ought to be grateful for, our joy grows. And a true blessing; the wideness of joy is felt early on, in direct relationship to the gratitude we have.

It is never too hard to be grateful. All it requires is a search; for, when we search honestly there are always things we can be grateful for. And inevitably we ought to be grateful to God.

When we account for the wideness of joy we have the perfect motivation to be grateful. The more genuinely grateful we can be, as a response to our inner attitude of thankfulness, the more joy God blesses us with.

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The more grateful we are in life the more joy we experience. And because there is no limit to the amount and detail of things we can be grateful for, God places no upper limit on the joy we may experience. Sow in gratitude—reap in joy.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.