Here at Faith Fusion we’ve decided to offer the 4th Sunday of each month as a Dialogue Service, which means we discuss a relevant idea related to the current sermon series. This month’s sermon series was titled “You Were Made for More”. Before we can discover what “more” we were created for, we may need to appreciate who we are right now, and where we’ve come from, or how God has been leading us.

For this reason (and coincidentally it happened to be Thanksgiving weekend) our discussion topic this past Sunday was “Gratitude”.

Gratitude vs Complaint

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:6-8

Testimony – (Kim Roth) What I have learned is that complaining or being grateful is a choice. We are all familiar with the saying, “Is the glass half empty or half full?” But we may not have figured out how to apply this wisdom to every situation. It may be more natural for an optimist to see the bright side, or the full glass, but some of us are born with the nature to see what’s wrong in every situation. That’s not always bad, we are the fixers of the universe and we want things to change for the better.

What I’ve found though, is that change for the better happens mostly on the foundation of gratitude for what already exists. It’s not easy to be grateful when you have a lot of problems or you’re in pain, but it can be done with practice. First you have to choose to see the good, and then you have to continue to practice looking for the good in every situation.

“I have but one life goal: to live in utmost gratitude. Today I will be more grateful than yesterday; tomorrow I will be yet more grateful. However, I must confess to all of you, that even though I feel I must be strong, determined, and constantly moving forward, it is sometimes inevitable that I feel rather weak and emotional, and that is the truth of the matter.” – Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Leaders Conference 4/31/84

• Question – Which do you do more of verbally, complain or appreciate? Be honest and discuss daily life examples of the things that get you going in either or both directions. 

The value of a lifetime

“A wise person thinks like this: “I have only a short time to live. Within this time I must prepare myself for eternity. The way I live in the next two years will be the model for my eternal life.” Then explode your sense of love. Love God, and love another person as God. For an entire day, 24 hours, pour out your entire energy for someone. If you love a person like this, even though you may die early, you will have made the highest accomplishment in all eternity. Then when God gives you more time to live, your response will be immense gratitude. Push yourself to live more fully. The person who expects death and then is given life dwells in the fullest gratitude.” –Sun Myung Moon 

Testimony – (Cheryl Roth) A couple years ago my husband had heart surgery. At the time I felt that I had come face to face with death and it made me realize that I had not appreciated my husband’s life enough, and that I should even appreciate my own life more. I prayed in repentance and asked God to give us both more time to realize the fullness of who we are and what we can do with our lives. Since then I feel we both have a more keen focus on fulfilling our life’s work.

Then about 6 months ago I had the crazy experience of losing my job while my husband was out of the country for 5 months. I was in shock and I felt the situation was unjust, not to mention that the timing could not have been worse, right before my daughter’s graduation from college. After praying for 2 days I was able to calm down, and then I realized what I needed to do.

I decided to write a thank you note to my previous employer, thanking him for hiring me in the first place and expressing what I liked about the job and what I learned there. I also apologised for anything I might have done wrong. This was difficult for me because I felt I was wrongly fired. I didn’t do it with the intention of getting my job back though, I did it to set myself free. I needed to be free from anger, fear and resentment so that I could see a new direction in life that God was preparing me for.

• Question – Have you had an experience where changing your perspective toward gratitude changed the dynamic of a situation or relationship? Describe your experiences to each other.

The Game Changer

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4

A few weeks ago Pastor Heather told the story of Joseph, how his brothers sold him into slavery, then he had many bad experiences but finally became the right hand man of the Pharaoh.  Finally he forgave his brothers and recognized God’s hand in his life’s course.

• How do you think gratitude was involved in Joseph’s ability to see God’s plan and to forgive his brothers? What can we learn from this story about gratitude and its relationship to resentment & forgiveness? 

In Pastor Heather’s sermon last week (You Were Made for More Love) toward the end she said: “What struck me was the notion that while sometimes life is hard; we have to look for the invisible within the visible because that is a game changer. Everything changes when you allow the love of God to shine on your life. It enables you to see fortune where you previously saw only suffering.”                                                                                   

We learn patterns of thought and behavior over a lifetime, but we have free will to learn new things and change at any moment. Learning to see the good and feel gratitude regardless of our difficulties takes practice.