What are some of your favorite beauty regimens? Painting your nails? Shaving your legs? Coloring your hair? Getting a massage? How about choosing—and overflowing—with gratitude? (Hmmm . . . which one of these things doesn't seem to fit?) In her most recent book, Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth says,
I would go so far as to say that there is nothing more becoming in a child of God than a grateful spirit. By the same token, there is probably nothing that makes a person more unattractive than the absence of a grateful spirit.
Well, I don't know about you, but that's enough to make this girl want to be grateful! But . . . how? How does a girl like you or me get a grateful heart change? It's not like we can just buy a thankful spirit in the cosmetic aisle at Walmart. This is going to require a bit more work than your average one-time makeup application. Just ask Joni Eareckson Tada. She's lived her entire adult life as a quadriplegic, due to a diving accident when she was seventeen. Nancy had the opportunity to spend some time with Joni and asked her, "How do you maintain such a joyful spirit, with all the challenges you're forced to deal with on a daily basis?" This is what Joni said:
You know, Nancy, I think I've just disciplined myself for so many years to ‘give thanks in all things,' that it's become my reflex reaction.
Wow. As Nancy says,
The grateful heart that springs forth in joy is not acquired in a moment; it is the fruit of a thousand choices. It is a godly habit and pattern that over time becomes a new muscle in our spiritual makeup.
The good news is that—while it takes a lot of work—there really is reason for you to be truly grateful! Just look at the cross—that central point in history when God engraved you in the palms of His hand as He took those nails in order to bear your guilt, shame, and sin and rescue you from an eternity of hopelessness. As Nancy says:
The only people who can sustain a consistent flow of thanksgiving between them and God are those who know who, what, and where they'd be if He hadn't intervened and saved them from themselves.
How long has it been since you thought about who, what, and where you'd be if Jesus hadn't pursued you, loved you, chosen you, forgiven you, and given you His Spirit? Maybe you don't have what you want today. Or you have what you don't want. Either way, are you whining or worshiping? What beauty regimen are you practicing today?