Gratitude on a Sliding Scale: A Guest Post

Last week, my Christian blogger friend Andy B shared a post about gratitude with us on my blog. This week, another Christian blogger buddy of mine is sharing his thoughts on gratitude. I pray that you are touched by David’s offering today as you read it. I am grateful for these friends that God has brought into my life through this creative endeavor.

You can find David blogging in his regular place: David’s Daily Dose.

May this offering be a blessing to you.

Hallelujah and Amen.

The Devotional Guy™

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Gratitude on a Sliding Scale

My wife and I enjoy a show on the Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV) called House Hunters. Each episode features would be home buyers working with a realtor to find their forever home.

It’s fun to watch folks, from different stages and walks of life, ticking through their wish lists. However, there are times when “Sky’s the Limit” thinking by a couple of twenty-somethings is a bit much.🙄

For example, there was the young wife who refused to consider any home with a chain link fence, because (to her) it made the outside of the house look like a prison yard. Or the couple who rejected a kitchen outright because it didn’t have high-end stainless-steel appliances.

I shook my head. When I was their age, I lived in a one-bedroom upstairs apartment and was glad to get it for $400 a month. Oh, and the neighbor across the hall cooked every meal with soy sauce.

Aren’t millennials grateful for anything!?

I spoke too soon. During an episode a week later, we were pleasantly surprised. Another young couple toured a house that seemed perfect for them. There was just one wrinkle: the washer and dryer were out on the screened in back porch. I thought for sure they would turn their noses up. But the young wife said, “I wouldn’t mind doing laundry out here. Growing up in Honduras, I walked down to the river to do the washing with my mother.” There goes my spoiled millennials theory. 

Gratitude is connected to perspective

This is my take-away from the youthful Honduran housewife.

For example, there are folks in hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico who are grateful for a couple of new tarps and fuel for the generator. Meanwhile, I’m irritated when heavy rain blocks my satellite reception.

Here are two of my favorite “gratitude in perspective” scriptures. Please share one of yours in the comments.

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Jesus (Luke 12:15 – NIV)

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5- NIV

—David

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I hope you enjoyed reading David’s guest post. You can read his most recent post here. If you are interested in contributing a guest post, please reach out to me.

God bless,

Rainer Bantau aka The Devotional Guy™