10/08/2026
THURSDAY ENCOURAGEMENT – THE LENS OF GRATEFULNESS
I have a friend, Linda, who has an amazing ministry called “Lunchbox Ministry,” out of my sister’s church, Kipton Community Church. I have written about the outreach of this church a few times, saying how much it reminds me of your Community Church here in Riverside. Once a month the Lunchbox Ministry blesses over 100 seniors and shut ins with homecooked hot meals, visits, encouragement, and spiritual materials. Linda writes a devotional that is part of the spiritual material they receive and inserts it in their bag of goodies. Linda doesn’t consider herself skilled in writing these devotionals but she knows they are what God wants her to do, so with His help she always includes one. This past Monday, the following is the one Linda wrote for the October meal drop off.
Title: ARE YOU LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF GRATEFULNESS?
A friend of mine recently blessed me with a wonderful loving note, telling me that she was looking at me through the “lens of gratefulness”! Oh, my, how she BLESSED ME!!
But it got me thinking…do I look at things through the Lens of “Gratefulness”? Or do I look, at times, through a “lens of grumbling” and come across unthankful and ungrateful? This really got my attention!
For me, gratitude is not just a response for receiving, but a vital part of my faith. I feel it is a continual attitude of the heart, reflecting God’s “goodness and faithfulness,” and as I believe all things are from Christ, gratitude draws me “closer to Him.”
Of course, I’m grateful for all the “normal” things…love of family and friends, my health, a roof over my head…But my God is definitely not “normal’! He’s so much BIGGER than that. Friends, We are not “normal,” God created us in His image! So, I am grateful for…a comfortable bed to climb into after a long and busy day, “mercies” that God has ready for me before I even get out of bed, clean water running from a faucet and waking up hearing the birds outside chirping, for the “people” that God put into my day that made it go so much easier, a clerk at the store, a teller at the bank, a delivery guy. I am grateful for “answered Prayer” that at the time I didn’t even realize that God had answered!, parts of my body doing a thousand times today what it was supposed to do, even when I sometimes complain there are parts that don’t! I am also grateful for my Father keeping after me in my “disobedience,” like Jonah and continuing to love me anyway! Grateful for the things that God protected me from that I didn’t even know were coming, the doors he shut that I wanted open when He knew better and the many times He carried me that I didn’t know He was. Oh so grateful for the voice of a person who spoke to me today that some day I would give anything to hear again!
God is so GOOD! He wants us to be grateful and to thank Him. What do you see through your “Lens of Gratefulness,” Friends? Think about it and thank Him! We at Lunchbox Ministry are GRATEFUL to God for YOU, and we thank God for your PRECIOUS LIVES and FRIENDSHIP. We love you and pray for you. God bless you all!
Linda Hartman
Just adding from me: Thank you, Linda and Kipton Community Church and all you do for so many, including me.
Be Encouraged, Be Blessed,
Ellen
