Colossians 3:12-17

Gratitude:  the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.  
Synonyms of the word gratitude:  appreciation, acknowledgment, appreciativeness, grace, gratefulness, honor, indebtedness, obligation, praise, recognition, requital, response, responsiveness, sense of obligation, thankfulness, thanks, thanksgiving
Antonyms of gratitude:  ingratitude (not grateful), thanklessness

Colossians 3:12-15
12) Therefore, God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 
13) accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another.  Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you must forgive.  
14) Above all, put on love - the perfect bond of unity. 
15) And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts.  Be thankful.  
16) Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and signing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.  
17) And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. 

Thinking about how much I have to be thankful for today.  My attitude is often one of ingratitude or discontent rather than gratitude.  I don't often think of myself as thankless, but to be ungrateful is to be thankless.  Hmmm.  I have way been blessed way too much to sit in a posture of thanklessness.  I don't want to be ungrateful.  All I have to do is open the Word and I can easily find things to be grateful for regardless of circumstances and situations.  His Word is alive and He meets us there - talk about something to be grateful for!!!  Did you look at the synonyms listed above?  Look again.  Think about them.  We personally enjoy being appreciated, acknowledged, responded to and all the rest, don't we?  Allowing ourselves to look at God and be grateful for Who He is and all He did and is still doing will create a thankful heart in us and help us to then express it to the others in our lives.  We mustn't wait until everything is 'perfect' and we 'feel' like being grateful, we must chose what we are looking at and determine to be grateful.  Easier said than done, huh?  Guess, if we practice we will get better though and that sounds like a good goal ;)

Look at Colossians 3 with me.  Let's just list the things we see:
 
God's chosen ones
holy
loved
put on compassion, humility, gentleness, patience
accepting one another
forgiving one another
forgiven by the Lord
let the peace of the Messiah (to which we were called) control our hearts
Be thankful
Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom
singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in our hearts to God
whatever you do (word or deed) do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus
Giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus

Whoa!!!  Does seeing this listed out cause thankfulness to swell up in your heart?  Personalize it!  I, Tammy, am God's chosen one, holy and loved.  I can put on compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience.  I can accept others (I can accept myself).  I can forgive others (I can forgive myself) because Jesus has forgiven me!  I can allow the peace of the Messiah to control my hearts, this is a calling not just an option.  I am to be thankful, period.  I want to let His message and all He is dwell richly in me and wherever I am.  May He teach and admonish me and allow me to have wisdom in sharing with others.  I want to have a heart that overflows with gratitude toward God with spiritual songs and do everything, words or deeds in the name of my Lord, Jesus giving thanks!

I want to walk in the truth of His Word and have this be my reality more often than an ungrateful heart and spirit.

Father God, forgive me for being thankless so often.  Focusing on the negative rather than all You have provided and are doing.  May I recognize You more and more in my days and may You be glorified in me and through me.  Thank You for saving me and for not allowing me to stay the same, but causing change.  Enable me to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and be willing to see all Your benefits rather than focus on how I may or may not feel.  Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your love, Your faithfulness and Your grace.  Have Your way...