This lesson was written as part of a retreat and is intended to follow a sequence. For more information, click here .
Spiritual Disciplines: Gratitude
“The discipline of gratitude is an explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and what I have been given me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” Henri Nouwen
“If the opposite of scarcity is enough, then practicing gratitude is to recognize that there is enough and that we are enough.” Brene Brown
Preparation / Find a comfortable, quiet place to sit, possibly with a view to nature to focus your attention on God instead.
Place your palms down, showing a desire to deliver your worries and anxieties to God. Name the things that occupy your thoughts, and deliver them to God. Breathe deeply several times to relax your body.
When you’re ready, turn your palms up indicating that you are ready for what comes from God.
Read Philippians 4: 4-20 / Consider this passage as if the person of Paul in prison.
Read a second time, with emphasis on the specific actions that are ordered or carried out by the brothers and sisters in Philippi.
Read a third time, and make emphasis on the results of gratitude and joy.
Consider / How do you see yourself same you and your relationship with God in these words?
What generates this response in you?
Write in your journal the ideas that God has given you.
Challenge / Read Philippians 4: 4-20 at the beginning of each day the coming weeks. Focus on a phrase that catches your attention and hold it in front of you in a note or a telephone reminder. Reflects the end of the day whether it has made any difference in your interactions with others.
Start a journal of Gratitude / or other exercise gratitude journal.
Specifies why these grateful or how something or someone makes a difference. It is consistent; write at the same time each day. Find the gift of grace in the negative moments. Write 3-5 reasons why these grateful using descriptions or writes on a specific detail. No need to always be grateful for practicing gratitude.
Other passages to study while developing this spiritual / discipline Isaiah 43: 1-7, Ephesians 1, Colossians 3: 12-17, Psalms 100, 107, 118 , 1 Thess. 5: 16-18
Section 3 – Individual (Meditation)
Other passages to study while developing this spiritual / discipline Isaiah 43: 1-7, Ephesians 1, Colossians 3: 12-17, Psalms 100, 107, 118 , 1 Thess. 5: 16-18
Sojourners y Peregrinas 