Thanks 1 - What is that? ...

Friday, July 2, 2010. When I look back some years into my life, there was a time when I realized, that I was not at all thankful. I realized that I even was not clear about this word. What was thanks about? What was thankfulness about? So I wanted to know, wanted to explore. I realized that something important was missing in my life: thankfulness!

What is thankfulness?

When you look a little bit into the literature, you find the definition of thankfulness as a positive feeling. It is based on someone doing something which is of value for you. Then, you can acknowledge what he or she did and that creates particular feelings which are called “thankfulness”. If someone does very valuable and important things, you will be very thankful.

Perhaps you know thankfulness, you are thankful and that is wonderful. Feeling thankfulness can be an extreme satisfaction. It can bring deep peace into our mind. But if we are not thankful, these remarks will not help us much. So if you have the same problem than I had, the question is how we can get to know thankfulness, how can be become thankful. We might even ask: why do we want to be thankful? Do we just want to have nice feelings or is there more to it.

Why be thankful?

Why should we be thankful? If someone does something for us, that is our natural reaction. So we could answer: there is no real reason for it, it is just the way we are. If we receive, thanks develop in us. If we express our thankfulness in words or actions, that just corresponds to what is going on in our mind and our heart.

The biblical answer looks a little deeper. It states that God is the creator and center of the Universe. God is the one who provides everything. He does it, just because he likes to give and to serve. God is the great mother and the great father, the one who cares without expecting things back.

And God created us with positive reactions to his provision. He wants to have real community with us. He wants to care for us and he wants us to care as well. Thankfulness is a part of this relationship to God. So when we discover God and his role in our life (in the life of every human), we will also discover thankfulness. We will realize that thanks are natural feelings which evolve when we realize very valuable actions of others which are relevant to us. We will enter a world of thanks! ... more texts