How Looking Back in Gratitude Leads to Spiritual Growth
Have you ever stopped to wonder why God gave humans the ability to remember, and, specifically, the ability to remember for such great lengths of time? Many of us have memories from when we were just four to five years old, and a select few may remember images and moments even earlier than that.
I confess, I had never bothered with the thought of why we are able to remember until very recently. I was feeling convicted for the course of several months about the lack of gratitude in our home, and in addition the spirit of complaining that seemed to have a chokehold on my husband and I and our two wild ones. I wanted to show my children a way to live resounding with gratitude, so I thought long and hard. What do I personally do to develop gratitude in my own heart?
The answer was quickly obvious since I have been working on gratitude in my spiritual walk for most of my adult life. One favorite trick is my practice of looking back. Let me tell you why it works so well; there are actually two reasons!
Giving God the glory
For starters, looking back to areas of your life and searching for the things that God has done for you will help you to be grateful for His hand, even if you currently feel a bit neglected. Looking back to curate gratitude is important because life’s rapid pace often prevents us from thanking God in the current moment of blessing or provision. It makes sense, of course, because the devil’s favorite tool is distraction, but when we look back at our lives with a grateful heart, we counteract the enemy’s plan and put the glory back in God’s court.
A timely exchange
Looking back to previous seasons of life, searching for moments we can be thankful for is important for another critical reason. It replaces a common, negative spiritual habit with a positive one. We hear so often things like “don’t look back,” or “don’t live in your past.” We hear these cheap mantras because people so often end up looking back with an attitude of regret, conviction, or discontentment—all negative feelings we humans aren’t fond of. We don’t like being uncomfortable, do we? However, is the mantra of “never look back,” biblical? I suggest maybe not.
Read Luke 17:14-16 with me:
When He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.
The Bible records a story of a leper who was healed after rushing away at Jesus’ command. He stopped, turned back, gave God glory, and humbly thanked Jesus. The world is right that looking back and obsessing over mistakes is no way to live, but they’re missing out on an important principle that has the power to make you healthier in mind and spirit: looking back at God’s blessings, provision, protection, miracles, faithfulness, and love builds you up and brings glory to Father!
How to practice looking back
Dwelling on the story of Jesus’ encounter with the lepers convinces us that looking back in gratitude is a biblical principal. But how do we do it, and what are we looking for?
Make it simple in the beginning while you are building the habit. Here are three baby steps to make it happen!
- Every day, think back to one obvious time in your life that God was with you. Maybe His hand kept you from a bad accident, maybe He ministered to your marriage in a rocky season, or maybe a financial crisis was averted because of His provision. Pick one clear memory each day.
- Next, pray, out loud if you can, and thank God for that specific event or blessing.
- Share it with someone. Pop on Facebook and share the memory and voice your gratitude, or tell your husband, kids, or other family member. You can even tell a stranger, if you like!
That’s it! Keep it up daily and you will begin thinking of these types of gratitude moments more often than you can count! Once you’ve made thankfulness a solid part of your daily walk, you can challenge yourself to look for even more subtle acts that God has done on your behalf. I promise you will grow spiritually by practicing this habit, and I also guarantee that God will be pleased with what He is seeing in your heart as you develop gratitude.
Meet Shirley Robinson
Shirley Robinson is a Christian creative who works to bring the light of God’s goodness to the online mission field. Writing, storytelling, and designing Bible quotes for Instagram are some of the ways you’ll see her tinkering around the Jesus fandom. Shirley, her husband Paul, and their two kids are East Coast natives. Together they enjoy amassing troves of books and board games.
Where to find her . . .
Begin Within is a series to inspire a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbors as well. Gratitude is a theme we talk about often around here because it ties so closely into other missional living rhythms. Practicing gratitude reminds to keep our hearts soft and expectant and our eyes open. Therefore, the more we embrace gratitude, the easier it becomes to truly see our neighbors and where we can join what God is already doing in our neighborhoods.
My vision for this gratitude series is to help others embrace a year-round lifestyle of gratitude that will impact not only their own life, but the lives of their neighbors as well.
If you would like to contribute to Begin Within, you can find the submission guidelines here.
Creating Ripples
If you would like to cultivate rhythms in addition to gratitude that will empower you live on mission in your neighborhood, check out Cultivating a Missional Life: A 30-Day Devotional to Gently Help You Open Your Heart, Home, and Life to Your Neighbors. This small book will help you make a big impact in your neighborhood as you learn to let missional living flow from the inside out. Get the 30-day missional living challenge free when you purchase the book.
