Attitude of Gratitude
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT)
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
I have learnt over the years how important it is to have an attitude of gratitude, to live out Paul’s command in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to be thankful in all circumstances. When I think back to last weekend’s church retreat, I find that I have many things to be grateful for. Let me list some of them here:
GRATITUDE LIST
- The heterogeneous mix of people. The diversity on display could only have been brought together by Jesus Christ as our mediator. We can sometimes be quick to dismiss this or celebrate it prematurely, but Christ’s bride isn’t meant to look indistinguishable. It was great to see such a rich mix of ages and nationalities fellowshipping together.
- The times of worship and teaching. We were blessed to have a comfortable worship hall, where we could sing together and listen to the exposition of key verses on what it means to live as disciples. There were few technical difficulties, everything ran smoothly.
- Fun and laughter. At our Saturday evening quiz night, we laughed and cheered one another on as we answered questions on science and history whilst eating chocolate marshmallows and running with a potato and spoon as quickly as we could.
- The beautiful location. The retreat centre was located close to the Plön lake, surrounded by trees, with many opportunities to walk in nature or play different sports.
- The conversations. We had the chance to get to know people we didn’t know before, either at breakfast, lunch or dinner time.
- The organisation. Our office admin team worked very hard on answering emails, making phone calls, arranging meetings, wrapping gifts, and generally making sure that the organisation ran smoothly.
I am grateful to everyone who was there, it was a special time.
God bless you
James