Last week, I was with one of my clients (non-photography related) when we started talking about the collection of information. I work in an industry where collecting data from the field is critical to projecting accurate numbers in the office. One of the guys described what that process looks like…and I think it applies to thankfulness. 

Imagine you’re standing at the top of a hill. You have a basket that you plan to transport/push/roll downhill to others. If there’s one thing we know about gravity, whatever you have at the top of the hill is definitely going to roll downhill. So…if you decide to send down a load of poop (he used a different word), you can expect that that load of poop will travel right back to you down the road. However, if you send down good data…or better yet, generosity/thankfulness/love/respect/kindness, etc…you can also expect to receive that back in return.

Some people believe that having a positive attitude in life affects the way “life” treats you. I guess the concept is fairly similar…but as Christians, we should be looking for ways to live out the Christian life in a way that our gratitude overflows to others. Here’s another way to look at it: 

Most of us spend our lives on the last two…worrying and praying about what God is doing in us and through us. As a result, we tend to forget our motivation…and we’ve forgotten what God has done FOR US. Unfortunately, “in us” and “through us” is completely subjective so it becomes a bit of a roller coaster when we try to keep track of what God is doing in our lives.

What God has done FOR US never changes though. In fact, throughout the bible, there are examples of what God has done for us (during our lesson this past weekend…our minister walked through countless examples of a pattern seen throughout the bible – the first half of most books consisting of “what God has done for you” followed by the second half of the book telling you what God wants from you now). Why then do we keep getting it backwards?

2 Corinthians 9: 10-15 “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift”

With that said, God will provide for all of us so that we can provide for others generously, but we have to remember all the great things he’s done for us in the past (in many cases, long before we were ever born…his son, Jesus….dying on the cross anyone?). If we were to live that way…just imagine how that would change our marriages….our parenting….our work relationships…the cities we live in….or the world? It could be pretty great. Otherwise…we’re just pushing poop down a hill.