Having chosen by an act of will to be grateful for our many blessings and having chosen to pray for God to correct our emotions to bring them into line with the fact of our gratitude. We next should consider an appropriate response to this new attitude.  What action should we take?

I suggest we look at our blessings, note how we have enough, we have what we need, and can recognize how blessed we are in this. From here we should turn out eyes outward, to the news we hear and read, the Christian martyrs in Syria and surrounding areas, Christian women and children sold into slavery in the middle east, Parents forced to watch as their children are ordered to convert to Islam and then killed when they will not abandon Jesus, Christians in Africa facing persecution and death for their faith there, with their children kidnapped to be forcibly converted, killed, and sold into slavery, entire countries suffering the slow tortured death by Ebola.  It is a horrifying prospect!

We are so blessed here. Even with the economic hardships we face, even with the threats of disease and invasions due to open borders, even with the economic persecution of Christian businessmen here, we are still far better off than the Christians, our brothers and sisters, in much of the rest of the world.

We need to look at our blessings and ask how we ought to use them.  Could be buy cheaper coffee and donate to a food bank? Could we donate to Mercy Chefs who are trying to raise funds to ship water purification systems to the refugee camps in the middle east? Close to home or far away, there are needs that are only going to be met if we seek to go from mere gratitude for our good blessings, and move into a response of generosity towards others.  No one of us can do much, but the small bits grow to a huge amount there more of us do our little bits. We are grateful, we are praying, we need to ACT.

Dear Lord, help us to grow in our gratitude for the many blessings You have given to us, and help us from our place of enough, to recognize that others are less fortunate, and find a place to donate our little bit to help.  Please help me, and all of us, to explore expressing our gratitude by means of giving to others. Thank You Lord for helping us see and do right. +Amen.