Thankful: 1: conscious of benefit received 2: expressive of thanks
Grateful: 1: appreciative of benefits received 2: expressing gratitude
Where thankfulness is an emotion, gratitude is an attitude of appreciation under any circumstance. Gratitude involves being thankful, but it is more than that. Gratitude means expressing thankfulness and being appreciative of life daily—even when nothing exciting happens.
Even when nothing exciting is happening? Yes.
I am both thankful and grateful for my daily life in sobriety.
When I decided that how I was managing my life on my own wasn’t working and then completely surrendered to God’s will in my life—that’s when my life began to transform. The journey forward became:
• Being thankful for the people who support me and for God’s provisions, even when it doesn’t look like what I think it should look like.
• Staying in gratitude every day, even when the bad things came at me.
• Doing the things that support my sobriety... daily prayer and meditations, meetings, working steps, connecting with my sponsor and others in the program.
• Walking in peace, knowing that if I take the next step of faith, God will show me the right direction. It is a journey, not a destination.
“It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done.” The Big Book of AA, page 85
This says it all.
I am Thankful and Grateful, yet again—
Today.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
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