Be Thankful And Appreciate The Little Things In Life Because They All Add Up

Now throughout life, there are many many things that happen each and every day. We go through our lives, we are so busy, we are so rushed, we are passing through and a lot of people rarely have time to stop and smell the roses, let’s say.

Or if something comes up, someone wants to get together for lunch or someone wants to do this or someone needs help, even moving something—a couch or a chair—taking something from one place to another or anything like that, people just can’t fit it in and that is really sad.

We were made in this world to be social. Help each other to remember how important life is and how valuable and short life really is. A part of doing that is appreciating each and everything that happens every single day and many people; they just rush.

They go from place to place. You may be a person who does this. You might feel like a chicken running around with your head cut off—so busy, so frantic. Scurrying from place to place that you don’t know what is going on.

Pretty much all you know about your life is that every morning you wake up and every day you do the same types of things and when the day is over you don’t really even know what you did today or yesterday or the day before but you go to bed tired and that is it.

Your life is so full and it’s packed that whatever you can fit into your schedule fits in and you have no time for anything else. You got to change; you got to make a change. This is very very important. You need to change something. Take some time out of your busy life and appreciate the little things around you. Now what am I talking about? I am talking about tiny things.

It starts snowing, wow, look at this. There is a bird in the tree and you say, “Look at that bird” or maybe there is a colorful salamander that you see only a few times in your life, and rather than walking by it, take a minute and appreciate God’s glory in that creation right there. Things like that.

Walking along the sidewalk on a cold winter day if you live up in the northern United States and seeing the frost patterns on glass, or on the trees, or on the leaves that may be on the ground and seeing how cool different things like that are.

Those little things in life that you can take a moment and appreciate them, and it’s not so much just appreciating these things. It’s more of being thankful that you have the opportunity to appreciate it.

Because all of this was given to you by God. Of course, there are a few more lessons in that. Everything here was given to us by God. That means it is all His anyway. So what do we have to do? We need to be good stewards. We need to take care of it. We need to use it wisely.

It’s like the parable of the talents. We have to be a good steward of that wealth. Of what God has given us. And if we are a good steward of that, if we take really good care of it, if we are responsible, we invest it wisely. We are not blowing it. We are not damaging it. We are caring for it. We show that it means something to us.

Then God says, “Well done good and faithful servant. Here is more, have more.” He will open the floodgates of Heaven, the windows of Heaven and we will be blessed with more. For whoever has will be given more the Bible says, so remember that not only is all this His. We have to be a good steward of it. But it is all His, so we should appreciate it—that He has given us the opportunity to live in this world.

This is a mindset. It’s a mindset that you can develop and you can change but it takes time. So go ahead: still continue with your overbooked schedule, just learn to recognize the little blessings that God provides you with each and every day. One other thing is, these may be little things, but they all add up.

Let’s turn to the Bible. Let’s go to Luke 16:10 which says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

You have a little. You are dishonest with it. You are not good with it. You are not going to be given more. You have a lot; God knows you can take care of it. If you have, for example, one Bible you are taking really good care of it, God knows, “Hey if I give this guy 10 Bibles, he is going to take good care of those 10 exactly like he took care of the one.”

But if you have one Bible and you are throwing it, it drops in a puddle, it breaks, it is this, it is that, why would God give you a different one or more?

Same thing with your phone. Maybe you want a new phone but your current one is cracked up and broken. If you are not taking care of this one why would you get another one?

We have talked about this before in previous messages, on how with your children, if your children want a certain toy and they are really not caring for it but they want another toy, why would you give them that other toy if you know that they aren’t going to take care of it?

Same thing—you have a bad crappy car, you want a new one but you are not really taking good care of this one. Start taking care of what you have and show God you can be trusted with more; He will give you more if you prove you can handle it.

Psalm 9:1 is another good verse. Turn there with me please if you can. Psalm 9:1, “I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.” Verse 2, “I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, Most High.”

Why do we do this? Everywhere around us is God’s creation. The birds, the wind, all of this. What is all this doing? It is singing praise for the Creator. Why can’t we do the same thing? We can. Everything that happens, praise God.

We have talked about this before too. When you face trials of many kinds, the Book of James goes all about this. That when you have trials and persecutions and people are beating you up for being a Christian, that you are to rejoice and be glad, that you can be called by that name. Rejoice, sing, praise.

Everything here is God’s. We are given it. We are here to take care of it, be a good steward and be very thankful that you have the opportunity to do that each and every day. Now what else can you be thankful for? Remember it is a mindset. So maybe there are some certain things in your life that you have been waiting for.

For example, after five months we are still waiting for our non-profit designation. Well, you better believe that the day we get that phone call and it comes through, we are going to be thankful.

In the meantime, we are thankful that we have the opportunity to continue to present the Gospel to viewers like you, and we are thankful each and every time someone comments or shares or likes, or subscribes to the channel or the podcast, or anything on social media.

It is a mindset. Maybe you were having a late start and happen to make it to work on time. Great. What if you drop your phone and it lands right next to a puddle instead of in the puddle? Instead of being mad you drop your phone, be thankful God kept it out of the puddle. It is a mindset. It is a mindset.

Let’s take a look at a couple more verses. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is a very interesting one. It says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” All circumstances. What does that mean?

Well, it means when you do drop your phone and it lands next to the puddle you say “Thank you Lord for keeping it out of the puddle.” You don’t curse that you dropped your phone. That’s not good. It is a mindset, and it is a heart change.

Now it’s not going to happen right away, but I pray that you make this effort to start making this change. Now why is this important? Well as Christians, we are called to live a higher life. What does that mean? It means that we need to show other people that we are different. We have to be different because if we are the same, then there is nothing better about being a Christian. I’m serious.

Paul writes all about it when he wrote to the Romans, when he wrote Ephesians, he wrote about how you need to be different. Now, he had different examples. Different circumstances, but the same thing applies today in your life. You need to be different. You need to be the light.

We talked about this in a previous message called “Be Hot.” You got to be hot, you can’t be lukewarm; you can’t just go through the motions of life or Jesus will spit you out of His mouth. You need to be on fire for Him; you need to be hot. How can you do that? You got to show that you have the light of Christ within you and then you got to be a light to the world.

When you drop your phone, instead of swearing or cursing or saying something, you thank God that it didn’t break or that it didn’t land in the puddle or that it didn’t go down the storm vent or whatever the case may be.

Someone around you might say, “Wow, why are you so happy that that happened? I would be really upset.” You say, “Because it didn’t break or because of this.” It is a positive mental attitude.

It is a mindset; it’s a perspective. It’s being an optimist instead of a pessimist. Focus on the positive not the negative. You can do this. Anyone can do this. Years ago, I wrote something that I am going to read to you. It is just a portion of it, but it is basically a series of events that could go either way.

For example, when your alarm goes off in the morning, you like that. Why? Because it means you are alive. The muscles that ache, because it means I work hard. How about the taxes I pay? Because it means I am employed. My huge heating bill, because it means I am warm. The horrible sounds, because it means I can hear. The things that smell bad, because it means I can smell.

I like to be thirsty because it means I can drink. I like hunger because it means I can eat. I like to feel pain because I know something’s wrong. I like it when I am sick because it means I have health. I like to be tired because it means I can sleep. I don’t mind feeling fat because it means I am full.

These are all things that people can complain about and they do complain about. Their sore muscles or their sore back. Or they complain about their taxes or they complain about how bad that person’s voice is or they complain about being hungry or thirsty or they complain about feeling pain or being tired or they complain about being too full.

Well, how about the people who don’t have any food? What about the people that can’t get up in the morning because they didn’t wake up? What about the people who don’t pay taxes because they don’t have any money coming in because they aren’t employed? What about people who don’t have a heating bill because they are freezing because they can’t afford it?

It’s a mindset. These are all things you can choose. You can choose whether or not you are going to complain about them. You can complain or you can be thankful. “Give thanks in all circumstances, that is God’s will for you.” It’s His will for you.

A couple more verses that we are going to read, I know this is a little shorter, a little quicker message, but it is very important, and I felt that it needed to be preached or spoken. Even though it may not be as long or as detailed or as in-depth as others, but the point is the same.

Don’t let the brevity of this message get lost on you. The point of it is still very important. Don’t complain about things. God doesn’t want people who complain. You are going to complain—we are all going complain, but don’t let it go any further. Keep it where you mention it and then move on and then be thankful for something about it. Let your complaints bring praise and thankfulness to God.

A couple more verses. These are the same verses but they are in different places. Psalm 136:1, “Give thanks to the LORD for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 118:1. Same thing. “Give thanks to the LORD for he is good; for his love endures forever.”

Now what does this mean? You are to give thanks to the Lord in anything, remember, all circumstances. Why? Why do we give thanks to God? Well because we know He loves us. His love endures forever.

That means no matter what happens, God loves you. Remember He has a plan for your life. We have talked about this before. We have talked about a lot of things before.

I really hope that you are taking a look at all of these previous messages or if you are listening, that you are listening to the previous episodes, watching, listening, YouTube or any podcast [or] website, that you can listen and share these with others.

Talk about it with others and comment and get involved and interact and make an effort to transform your mind, your soul, your body, and your spirit to continue living for Christ each and every single day.

You can do it. It’s a mindset and it’s something that we can all be a part of, and we can show the world that there is something special about being a Christian. One of the best things that could happen to you is someone could ask you, “Why don’t you get mad all the time?”

I remember a story about me. This was when I was a kid and someone said, “You know not much seems to phase you.” Wow, that is good. Why? Because I have the joy in my heart. How about another guy at work, he always said, “You know, you always say everything’s nice, but it is not nice.”

They say, “We got this that broke.” I would say, “Nice let’s go fix it,” or “Nice—” and we do this and of course, it is not nice, but I said, “It has to be.” Why? It’s a choice. Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy and thankful or you can choose to be angry and disgruntled and complain all the time. Which do you think God wants you to be?

I am going to read one more thing. This is a letter. It was an email series years ago when people used to forward emails all around, now you can find it online. Bloggers have posted variations of it and different things like that.

This was an email that I received probably oh about 2005 or six or eight or somewhere around there, and I still have it because I thought it was really cool, and of course, there are different variations.

It’s basically a person talking to God and it is God replying. Now in real life or in your life, God may not reply to you in an audible voice. There won’t be a conversation, but you will hear from God when you are reading the Bible, when you are praying to Him or through messages like this, things will lift off the page or things will stand out to you, and you will have that revelation from God.

It may not be an audible voice, but God still speaks to you just as He spoke then and now and He will in the future. So this is someone saying, “Can I ask you a question God? Promise you won’t get mad?” “Yep,” and he said, “Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?” God says, “What do you mean?” “Well, I woke up late. My car took forever to start, I kept cranking on it and cranking on it and it just didn’t start and then finally it started.

“Then at lunch, I went to a restaurant and they made my sandwich wrong so I had to wait for them to remake it and then I was late to get back to work. On the way home I answered a phone call and my phone went dead so the call dropped, and I don’t know who it was, it could have been important. I am waiting for these phone calls,” etc.

Just one thing after another in this person’s day, they felt like they had a really bad day, and then to top it all off, at the end of the day, they went home and they sat in their massage chair and they tried to fire it up but it wouldn’t work. It just didn’t turn on, and they tried plugging it in and out and flipping it on and off, and for some reason, it didn’t work.

So after 30 minutes of frustrated anguish, they just gave up and decided to go have this conversation with God and, “Why oh why God would you allow all of that to happen to me today? My day was pretty horrible. What was the point?”

So God says, “All right, let me see here. This morning when you couldn’t wake up because you woke up late, the death angel was at your bedside, and he was gonna take you and I sent one of my angels to battle him for your life and save you.” That guy says, “Oh.”

“This morning when you went out to start your car, I delayed it because if it would have started right away, you would have been on the road and there was a drunk driver on your route who was coming home from the bar that would have smashed you when he ran a red light coming through the intersection, and you could have died. By having your car start late, he went through and you came after that.” “Oh.”

“The first person who made your sandwich who made it wrong, they were sick and they shouldn’t have been at work today and they made it wrong, and I kept you from getting that sandwich because, otherwise, you could have gotten sick, and I know you can’t afford to miss work, and you don’t want to be sick.” “Oh.”

“Your phone, it went dead because the person calling you was going to give you false witness. They were going to tell you something, that they were calling you to betray you later. What you said on that call, they were going to use against you, speaking with someone else and it could have cost you your job or a lot more, so I didn’t even let you talk to them. That way, nothing bad could have happened. That is why your phone went dead.” “Oh.”

“Finally, your massage chair. That had an electrical shortage in it, and you could have been electrocuted, and it would have thrown out all the power in your house, and I didn’t think you wanted to be in the dark tonight, so I just caused it not to work today.”

Now what is the point of that? Well if you didn’t get goosebumps in the first part when the death angel was standing over his bed and fought him off, the next time your alarm goes off a little late or you sleep through your alarm, think about that.

I have thought about that every time for the last 15 years. It still stayed in my mind because it is so powerful. Now whether it is true or not in your life or in my life, the point remains.

No matter what happens in your life, God is there and He is protecting you. Why? Because He loves you. His love endures forever. Give thanks to Him. You may not know why something is happening when it happens, but in all circumstances.

Your car doesn’t start, all right, “Thank you Lord for the delay, but start my car.” Turn it into a prayer of thanksgiving and a request rather than complaining about it, because you do things with a joyful heart.

It is the same as if you are a parent; if your child is complaining all the time, not really that pleasant to be around, you are probably not going to want to do happy things for them or good things for them as much as if they were a little joy all the time.

If all the time they said something where something went wrong but then they thanked you for it, “Oh my toy broke, but you know what, thanks for giving it to me because I had fun. In the meantime, maybe we could get a new one.”

You know what just happened there? Something bad happened, they thanked you for it and then they requested something else. You can do the same to God. Our Heavenly Father wants to bless us. Show Him you are a good steward of things. Remember everything in this world was given to you by Him.

It is all for our enjoyment and we are to live for His enjoyment. Therefore, be thankful in all circumstances because His love endures forever. He loves you so much and He wants to give you more.

Remember that the next time you sleep through your alarm or your car doesn’t start or you drop your phone or anything happens. See the roses, see the birds; everything is here to praise the Creator. Appreciate the little things because they all add up to the great wonderful miracle that your life is.

Let’s pray. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for this great message. Thank You so much for each and every person who is out there listening and watching. Lord, I ask that You would touch each and every one of them.

That you would start to work on their minds and their hearts. That they would see this as a very important mindset and that they would be called to live differently. That they are set apart. They are made for more.

That each and every day, they would go through life seeing these little things and appreciating them, and that they would ask for Your guidance and praise You in times of trouble, and that they would turn them into thanksgiving and requests for more.

Lord, help them be really good stewards of what they have so that you can bless them with more. Show them that it truly is up to them. That they have the choice whether or not they are going to live, to be happy or live to be sad and complaining. Lord, inspire them to dig deeper into Your Word, to converse with more people, and to be the light of this world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you watch this today and you don’t know whether or not you have this light in you or this joy down in your heart, that is something that we can really help you with. Please comment below. Send us a message on Facebook or Instagram, wherever you can, to Social Media Ministries.

We would love to have a conversation with you on how you can have this joy and this light in your life so that when you go out in your workplace, or you go to the grocery store, people will see something about you, and they will know that you are different.

When they can ask you about it and you have the opportunity to do what we are doing right now, that is to witness, to bring Jesus Christ into your life and then know that He is your Lord and Savior, He died for your sins, He loves you very much and He wants to give you immeasurably more. God bless.

“7 Day Gratitude Challenge to Cultivate a Heart of Gratitude” – Woman Of Noble Character