A Greatful Spirit

While hanging out with my sons, I recently had the fortune of sitting and discussing life with a young man who was ~26 years old.  Prior to us talking, his gaze was menacing and his body language communicated - leave me alone!

I pushed through my comfort zone and said hello and asked him how he was doing?  To my surprise he spoke back and in turn asked me how I was doing.  When anyone asks me this (including the CEO of my company), I always respond - "I'm Blessed".  After my response he asked me, if I read the word.  I told him I do my best to read it daily as a reminder of how to remain humble and obtain the encouragement I need to make it through life's trials.

As our conversation continued, we covered many different topics.  I could not help but sense this young man seemed to have a lot of anger bottled within himself.  I was not sure how to approach this conversation with a complete stranger.  Then it happened, we began to exchange Bible verses that resonated with each of us, my sons had that look of - "here dad goes again".  I stated that we are to be the salt of the earth because there are many occasions where we may be the only Jesus that someone sees.  In these times it is not so much about the words we speak but the deeds we keep.  He nodded acknowledging my statement, I continued, the way we feel on the inside has a way of rising to the surface and revealing itself.  If we are feeling hostile/angry, then this is what comes to the surface.  If we are proclaiming how good God is, our attitude should reflect the fact that we believe we have been and are being transformed.



I am the first to admit that we will generally  have some sort of struggle and therefore may not always feel very Christiany (Yup - I made that word up).  This is part of our human experience, it is not so much that we experienced this feeling but it is the subsequent actions we take to deal with them.  A grateful spirit is one that understands (and shows) that while we are not where we want to be, we are better off than we used to be.  This I believe is one of the cornerstones of the faith community - the acceptance and belief that our Father has paid the price for our iniquities.  Therefore, if a burden has been lifted, we should have a happier/lighter disposition so when others see the transformation our lives have taken (or the way we live our lives), they will want to learn more about why we are the way we are.

I believe the young man understood where I was coming from.  It also provided me the opportunity to evaluate whether or not I portray a grateful spirit as I interact with people along life's journey - what about you?

Rejoice!  Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (NKJV)

Blessings,
-d