Opinion column

The attitude of gratitude includes the everyday

James Knight is finding that his gratitude for the small things in his daily routine helps him to thank God for the more fundamental aspects of his life.

Over the years, I’ve noticed how I’ve become more and more grateful in my life, in a number of ways – and I think those ways are all connected. The longer I’ve known God, and the more intimately our relationship has grown, the more grateful I’ve been for who Christ is, for His presence in my life, for His Truth, and for all the abundant blessings He’s bestowed on me. As Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day that the Lord has made”, and each day I do fervently attest that I can “rejoice and be glad in it”.
 
Alongside this gratitude, I also find an increased gratitude for all the challenges that come my way. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us it’s God will that we “Give thanks in all circumstances” - and ‘all’ must include giving thanks for the bad things that befall us too (see also Colossians 3:17 and Ephesians 5:20).
 
Now here’s where I think it gets even more interesting; the third way in which I’ve become more and more grateful over the years is in the small things in life – in things where the gratitude may well seem to others to be incommensurably higher than the object or experience warrants. I think this level of gratitude has had one of the profoundest effects of all on my walk with God.
 
As expected, I’m massively grateful for the big blessings in my life, like my relationship with the Lord, my marriage, my family and friends, my home, my job, and my church. But frequently, through each day, I feel a profound sense of gratitude and thankfulness for what you might deem to be day to day things that would probably not ordinarily command such appreciation.
 
Even things like the see-through glass on our kettle, our metal bike shed, colourful flowers in our hanging basket, solar lights in our trees, seeing a frog on the decking area, our globe lamp, the model Ferris wheel gift from my sister-in-law and brother-in-law that I put together and placed on our shelf, the water bottle on my bike, my peach yoghurt each morning, the list really does go on and on. I’m even deeply grateful for the £3.99 metal hook on the back of my gate on which I hang my rucksack while I’m getting my bike out – and I was the one who screwed it on there. Small grains of gratitude, when accumulated and consistently valued, will start to feel like a beach of blessings and thankfulness on our journey with Christ.
 
All that brought me to a gradual and profound discovery about myself, and about life too. I think this third element of gratitude - of those smaller things - is deeply connected to the first two elements; that is, I think the abundant gratitude for Christ’s Truth and His presence in my life, and for big things like my marriage, my family and friends, my home, my job and my church, are feeding my gratitude for all those comparably smaller things; but yet at the same time, the deep gratitude for those smaller things is enhancing my gratitude and thankfulness for the most important blessings I have in my life.
 
The image of the hanging basket of flowers, one of the many things James is grateful for, is courtesy of Alexa on pixabay.com.

James Knight is a local government officer based in Norwich, and is a regular columnist for Christian community websites Network Norfolk and Network Ipswich. He also blogs regularly as ‘The Philosophical Muser’, and contributes articles to UK think tanks The Adam Smith Institute and The Institute of Economic Affairs, as well as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). 

The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily those of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.