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If some influential and powerful person should say to you, “I live to promote your interest. Wherever I go and whatever I do, whatever I seek and whatever I obtain, I live for you,” it would show great friendship, and excite in us great expectations. Would it not? Yet here is the Lord Jesus declaring…

We ought to pray with thanksgiving in its highest of all senses, by thanking God that we have the mercy which we seek. I wish we could learn this high virtue of faith. When I was conversing lately with our dear friend George Müller, he frequently astonished me with the way in which he mentioned that…

Suppose you say to your little boy, “Don’t you know, Tommy, if I were not to give you your dinner and your supper you would die? There is nobody else to give Tommy dinner and supper.” What then? The child does not think that you are not going to give him his dinner and supper. He knows you will, and…

If I send a petition to a man’s door, and then having earnestly asked, or pretended to ask earnestly, I am utterly careless about the answer, I have not treated the man respectfully. If that person should send me a letter in return to my request, and I should not even take the trouble to open it, how…

I might illustrate the willfulness of many a supplication by that of a little boy who was very diligent in saying his prayers, but was at the same time disobedient, ill-tempered, and the pest of the house. His mother told him that she thought it was mere hypocrisy for him to pretend to pray. He replied,…

In 2013 actor George Clooney wanted to surprise 14 of his longtime friends with a gift of $1,000,000 each. These were the people, he said who helped him over 35 years. They let him sleep on the couches, they loaned him money, and other niceties. He wanted to give them the money in cash. One rich person…

Lifeway conducted a survey about gratitude a few years ago. Despite recent cultural shifts, most Americans are still thankful to God for their many blessings. Shockingly, 14% of those along northeastern coast were grateful ultimately to themselves. Nationwide, however, even 25% of “those with no religious…

Psychology researchers Melissa Cyders, Christiana Prestigiacomo, and Melissa Liu polled 500 Americans to see how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and commented on the most effective ways people are coping with the pandemic. “The most effective coping strategies included problem-solving, exercising,…

Our parents taught us to say please and thank you. Common courtesy goes a long way. Just ask William White a 104-year-old Marine veteran is a Purple Heart recipient who fought at Iwo Jima. For Valentine’s Day 2020, he was overwhelmed with gratitude from 70,000 fellow citizens who sent him a valentine.…

“When Donald Nicholl was dying of cancer he quoted the words of a Russian poet, that gratitude (if not the highest) is the purest form of love, for when you are full of gratitude there is no room for anything else—recrimination or desire for revenge or self-pity. He began to record his gratitude for…

Dr. Joshua Brown, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University and his colleague, Dr. Joel Wong, an associate professor of counseling psychology at Indiana University set out to answer one question. How can they help clients derive the greatest possible benefit from treatment…

What does it mean to be grateful? William Weigal worked in the post office as a mail sorter. One day a supervisor asked William to replace a postman who was too sick to do his route. Thinking that it would not be too much trouble he agreed. After only one day on the job he refused to ever take the position…

All of us have trouble appreciating our parents until we grow a little older and realize all they have done for us. But one man in India has gone a little farther in his lack of appreciation. Raphael Samuel has announced he is suing his parents for the awful way they have treated him selfishly. They…

When Joao Pereira de Souza, a 71-year-old retired brick layer, found an oil-covered, emaciated penguin languishing on the rocks, he decided to take it home. He hand-fed it, and spent a week cleaning the oil off its feathers. When its health returned, de Souza, tried to set the penguin free, however,…

In THANKS! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. writes, “The family, friends, partners, and others who surround them consistently report that people who practice gratitude seem measurably happier and are more pleasant to be around.” —Jim L. Wilson —THANKS!, 44 Psalm…

As Americans counted their blessings at Thanksgiving 2016, God got most of the credit according to research by Lifeway. The representative survey gave respondents a choice ten options to be thankful for ranging from family to health, and wealth. The study found that Americans were thankful for family,…

In THANKS! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. writes, “In his longitudinal study of male adult development. Harvard University psychiatrist George Vaillant theorizes that a key to mature adaptation to life is the ability to replace bitterness and resentment toward…

New research shows that, as enjoyable as it might be, complaining is not good for us. Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely and over time it causes damage to certain areas of your brain. Complaining indirectly contributes to health problems like high blood pressure,…

In THANKS! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. writes, “One simply cannot be relaxed and stressed at the same time. Try it. You can’t. Relaxation drives out anxiousness and vice versa.” —Jim L. Wilson —THANKS!, 74 Philippians 4:6 (HCSB) “Don’t worry about anything,…

In THANKS! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. writes, “Thankfulness to God often occurs not only within the shadow of suffering, but also, paradoxically, is made possible through it.” —Jim L. Wilson —THANKS!, 116 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (HCSB) “Give thanks in everything,…

In THANKS! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. writes, “The Jewish and Christian scriptures insist that God’s people, whoever they are and wherever they are and whatever they face, are to be a grateful people, a people filled with praise and with thanksgiving to God.”…

In a concert in Chicago many years ago, Harry Lauder, Scottish singer and songwriter, sang to an overflowing audience. At the conclusion, the audience stood and applauded loudly and long. After the applause subsided, the audience said in unison, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Showing splendid humility,…

In October 2015, Sanmay Ved found a bargain. He saw that the domain “Google.com” was available for $12 and snagged the multi-billion dollar company’s URL. His quick thinking wound up benefitting a local nonprofit group. In less than a minute Google realized the mistake and cancelled the sale. Ved agreed…

In his book, Thanks: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make you Happier, Robert Emmons writes, “Hopelessness and despair can adversely impact the endocrine and immune systems, even hastening death. Conversely, being an optimist may help reduce your risk of dying from heart disease and other causes. A thirty-five-year…

A Massachusetts man found a way to deal with the setback of a hard winter in his city. He has learned to be thankful for the new source of income it provided. Kyle Waring was shoveling snow when he got the idea to sell the snow from his yard to people living in warmer parts of the country. Waring began…