a confession about resenting gratitude

I'm seeing all kinds of gratitude expressions this month.

Facebook is showered with daily thankful posts. Thankful trees are taking up residence in homes (like this one).

These are good things! I support gratitude. I've written 154 installments of Thankful Thursdays, for crying out loud.

If I'm being honest, though, I caught myself in a little wrestling match with cynicism over this "month of gratitude," because it all seemed trendy, forced, and obligatory.

There, I said it. I'm a terrible person. Because I thought things like this:

These thirty days of gratitude are going to turn very quickly into thirty-one days of consumerism and greed, come December 1.

Why aren't we as intentionally thankful every other month of the year?

That "thankful" person complains every other day of the year on Facebook.

Behavior modification is temporary, but heart transformation is not.

Are my own attempts to practice intentional gratitude just as futile?

See what I mean? Cynicism's dirty like that. (As is my judgmental nature.)

And then I dug a little deeper, because who in their right mind would take issue with sweet, intentional expressions of thankfulness? (This girl, actually, and she's not proud about it.)

I've been studying the Old and New Covenants in the Bible recently, and when Jesus ushered in the New Covenant, a myriad of supernaturally beautiful things occurred. In particular, I am love, love, loving this promise that God made to his people:

I will remove their cold, stony heart, and replace it with a warm heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19b, Voice). 

Let that sink in.

To those who humble themselves, and accept the offer to live under the direction and authority of the Holy Spirit, our great God is faithful to give us a heart capable of transformation. Capable of contentment, and eternal perspective, and joy. Grateful in all circumstances.

And because I think he's more interested to see us settle into a permanent posture of thankfulness, rather than a short-term behavioral shift, God's working overtime to take our new, warm hearts of flesh, and fashion them into vessels that overflow with gratitude.

Including mine. (Glory to God!)

So if our thirty-day gratitude challenges, or our thankful trees, or our Thankful Thursday posts are the tiniest evidence of that work, then let's be grateful for it.

Lord, may I steward well this new heart you've gifted me. I know it's wired to pour out goodness and kindness and gratitude, but only when you're the One filling it up. Let my heart overflow with gratitude for a lifetime, and not just for a month.