Following up from my last post, let me share someone else’s blog today. This excerpted from “ A Holy Experience” and is based on the story in 1 Kings 17

Life gets dry. Recession looms, stresses mushroom, responsibilities overwhelm. It’s easy to grow a bit hard, crack open, weary for refreshment.

And I wonder if our daily lives are characterized by as much joy and gratitude as we presume? Are those emotions something we believe in, give mental assent to…but rarely feel.

I wonder if we don’t allow our well-being too often to be at the whim of mainly external factors. We rely, wait, on some outer emotional weather, our daily environment, to rain down some joy, shower us with happiness. Sadly, we let something of such paramount import as our daily joy to be unpredictable and fleeting, dependent on environmental happenings rather than a permanent, interior fixture of our being.

If we know gratitude bathes us in joy, why isn’t it a trait we nurture in our everydays, when there is no rain in the land? Why does joy seem more like an evasive mirage for most people, an oasis we rarely arrive at?

Researcher Rollin McCraty offers a supposition:

“We propose that a main factor is that people generally do not make efforts to actively infuse their daily experiences with greater emotional quality…. Although most people definitively claim that they love, care, appreciate, it might shock many to realize the large degree to which these feelings are merely assumed or acknowledged cognitively, far more than they are actually experienced in their feeling world. In the absence of conscious efforts to engage, build, and sustain positive perceptions and emotions, we all too automatically fall prey to feelings such as irritation, anxiety, worry, frustration, self-doubt and blame.”

Why do we live dry? We do not remember or choose to pour the oil. We don’t actively infuse our common moments with the oil of gladness. Our default mode is to go gather sticks and prepare for heart death.

Our habit of thinking is to live where there is no rain.

But there is always oil in the jar. The more we give thanks, the more joy fills our reservoirs. The more we pour out in praise, the more gladness overflows the jar of our souls.

I just need to remember to deliberately pour.

What else can I say?

Thank You, Jesus!

Darlene
(PS – feel free to voice your gratitude in the comment section below!)

Don’t forget to pick up your FREE COPY of the PraiseWalker Primer! And also, please check out my Christmas challenge here!

One of the main purposes of “PraiseWalking” is to bring your spirit, soul, and body together in a place of growing. One way to do this is to practice spiritual exercises while walking, and one of the easiest exercises to do is a “Gratitude Walk”.  If you think of the 4 definitions of a noun “Person, Place, Thing or Idea” and use them as your guide, you can spend your whole walk thinking of things you’re thankful for. First you think of all the people, but instead of just listing names, be specific. For example, I might pray: I’m thankful for my husband who is, to me, an incarnation of Christ; He loves me unconditionally and shows me through that, the heart of God.

I am thankful for my son who has a serving, compassionate heart and a dry wit that makes me laugh out loud.

I am thankful for my daughter, the muse, who always brings a deep question to a light conversation, and makes us think. Then you move on to places, and in those places, experiences. Then things you’re thankful for, and why. Finally, think of things like love, joy, beauty, sorrow, pain, and anything else that is a part of your life. You might want to write yours down and share them below.  Or put them on your own blog, and link to it here. I’d love to create a HUGE collection of these, and start a gratitude revolution.  Wanna join me?

Darlene

Don’t forget to pick up your FREE COPY of the PraiseWalker Primer! And also, please check out my Christmas challenge here!