10,000 Reasons – it’s not about the list

SET a task, a daunting one at that, something is being forced into my character — to seek, to search out, to explore as the Spirit implores, to lay hands on, and to attain, gratitude.

One hundred reasons for one hundred days – 100 x 100 = 10,000

To find 10,000 Reasons can seem a worthless exercise consuming so much time — probably two or three hundred hours will be invested. Nearly two full weeks of effort over a three-and-a-half-month period. But it’s not about the list. Not really. The list is a means to an end.

Think of what God could be achieving in me as I accede to His request.

He wishes to do a work in me, and all I need to do is grant Him permission and access.

That’s discipleship. It’s the cudgel of effect the Lord wants to have in and through our lives. Christ’s urging through the Holy Spirit is always about the ends of Him who lives in us who love through Him. The method is unimportant, even irrelevant, so long as it is holy — set apart to Him. God is innately interested in me and in the ‘me’ in you.

It’s how God relates to us; about how we relate with ourselves.

The list is about this, as an end: a paradigm shift where all unholy thoughts are forced into eviction, where, more and more, God has His way. Where His mission seeks fulfilment through me.

Complaint cannot thrive whilst my mind burns to be grateful. I need gratitude because I complain. Anxiety falls flat when I’m too busy being thankful to fret. I need gratitude because I get anxious. Frustration hasn’t a chance when I see I’m getting behind my quota. I need gratitude because I get frustrated. Entitlement is an obvious folly when God keeps providing hundreds on top of hundreds of reasons to be appreciative. I need gratitude because I feel entitled at times.

The more responsibility I take for injecting joy into my life, the more freedom I enjoy. The less space I make for what is ungodly, the more God swells what is going in. The more grateful I can be, the more patience and humble I am.

It’s not about the list. It’s about what the list is doing in me as I compile it.