Thanklessness

"A lack of doxology leads to depravity." -Ann Voskamp

If you are anything like me, you are probably thinking to yourself, "what in the world does doxology mean?"

Believe me, I had no idea. So I had to look it up.

Doxology: An expression of praise to God.

An expression. I love that. There are so many facets of expression. We can express our thoughts through words. We can express ourselves through melodies of music. We can express ourselves nonverbally through body gestures and actions. There are so many ways we can express our feelings, thoughts, and attitudes.

But this profound statement is talking about the way we express our praise, essentially, our thankfulness.

I, for one, use to consider myself to be a very thankful person. But, to be honest, with the weight of four years of college, and now working on my first year in grad school, I have grown pretty cold over the years. Not that I think it has shown as much outwardly as it has grown internally. I've noticed myself in situations becoming more pessimistic, easily frustrated, and anger grew within me. It became easy for me to see the negative and It just didn't occur in my thoughts, it overflowed into my conversations.

Let's read this again... "A lack of doxology leads to depravity." Do you feel the weight of that statement? Without thankfulness we become corrupted. Our souls become nasty, icky, and most terrifying, cold and hollow.

I have realized this about myself. I couldn't believe the thoughts I was thinking or the words that were overflowing from my heart that I allowed to float into existence. Then I discovered it.

We all have a choice to chose to be thankful or chose to foster thanklessness. So I decided to start journaling all the many graces that God has given me. I've decided not to just look with my eyes, but to actually see. As I go throughout my day I jot down things that make my heart happy, or things that I have missed because I wasn't really looking. I'll share the five I wrote down today:

1) Having a man who loves me unconditionally
2) Having supportive friends
3) Throw blankets :)
4) To be able to express myself freely with Jesus
5) Thankful that Petey came to counseling with me today

I can't express how freeing it is to see through the lens of thankfulness. Not, to say that crazy things won't happen. Sadness and pain exist. Things will be hard sometimes, but nurturing a lifestyle of thankfulness will help sustain you when the rough times inevitably come.

Take it from me, it's worth it. Join me on this thankfulness journey!! What are you thankful for today?