Let us come before him with thanksgiving.
—Psalm 95:2
Paul advises us to season our prayers with thanksgiving: “By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil 4:6).
A dominant attitude eliminates a conflicting attitude because the two are incompatible.
For instance, gratitude eliminates worry because gratitude and worry are incompatible.
How grateful are you for the following? Test it by putting a dollar value on them:
- Your eyesight – $__________
- Your spouse – $__________
- Your child – $__________
Can’t do it, can you? But you get the idea. Counting the worth of what you have buries worry under layers of gratitude.
Author Anne Lamott seeks help and gives thanks in what she calls her two main prayers:
“Help me, help me, help me,” and
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”