June 11, 2020

Generous With Gratitude

June 11, 2020

DAILY READING

1 Thessalonians 5:18

FIELD NOTES

This week, we’re going to dive deeply into the next Fruit of the Spirit: goodness. To set it apart, we’ll be framing it as generosity. Imagining together one distinct way we can exhibit generosity – or goodness – in our lives. To be truly generous, we have to slow ourselves down, pay close attention to ourselves and those around us and the leading of God’s Spirit. 

My husband and I have been tied up in this house for a long time now! It’s easy to take your person – your partner – for granted. To stop noticing the kind things they do for you or the simple ways they make life easier. My husband makes me coffee each morning. He watches our kids while I jump from zoom call to zoom call. He picks up my shoes that I leave all over the house and returns them to our closet. He does the dishes. All of them. And in quarantine, it was easy to forget those things and notice the less sweet things! So I started thanking him. For all of it. To the point that it was annoying and weird. Because I see him and I appreciate him. And he thanks me back. For making dinner. For bathing the kids. For masking up and picking up groceries. And I feel seen. What if we truly saw people – spouses and friends and children and parents and strangers — and the good that was in them and the things that they did. And what if we thanked them? 

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

  • Why is it important for you to be generous with your gratitude?
  • How will you be generous with your gratitude? (Either do something today or create a plan for the future and put it on your calendar) 

PRAYER GUIDE

Lord Jesus, help me be generous with my gratitude. Help me to notice and to see and to appreciate and to thank. Help me love your people with my gratitude. Amen.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT CHALLENGE

For the duration of our sermon series, we are offering daily prompts for applying the wisdom from the scriptures to our everyday lives. Each week focuses on how we can encourage those around us and bear fruit! This week we are focusing on the fruit of goodness.

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?” – William A. Ward

Who can you thank God for today? Who can you be generous to with your gratitude today?

To learn more about the Fruit of the Spirit challenge, click here.