Coffin Corner

Here in the US one of our favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. It's a time for family gatherings filled with traditions, some overindulgence of great food, and a time of reflection for the many blessings we have to be thankful for.

Unfortunately for far too many of us we can easily overlook the part of reflection and thankfulness. We allow Thanksgiving and the Christmas season become a time of crazy busyness and rush. And we forget how valuable it is to take time out for giving thanks. And definitely if our life is in a bad season we often lose sight of what we have to be thankful for.

So even if it is not Thanksgiving in your part of the world. Or if you're reading this long after the Holidays are past, I want to share a few thoughts on why I believe having a thankful heart is good for you and your marriage. It doesn't matter if your marriage is a bad place right now, I still believe you and your marriage can benefit from being thankful.

So I come up with 10 reasons thankfulness is good for your marriage. I know there are many more, but this is what I have for now.

1) Thankfulness is an optimistic state of mind. When you look for reasons to be thankful, you are choosing to see the glass half full. You are choosing to overlook the negative because you want to see the positive. Thankfulness makes a way to keep your hope alive no matter what the circumstances look like.

2) Thankfulness creates an atmosphere for positive change. When you have a thankful heart it also comes with patience and grace. And any time you have patience and grace you give yourself and your spouse room to breath and opportunity to grow into better people.

3) Thankfulness is attractive. When you see someone with a thankful heart it is compelling. It makes it easy to be near that person. In contrast when you see someone who is ungrateful there is a kind of bitterness about them that makes you want to go the other way.

4) Thankfulness keeps your life in balance. Life seems to always bring all sorts of challenges our way. When we are not careful we can stay so focused on overcoming our challenges and just as soon as we conquer one thing we are eager to move on to the next, all the while forgetting to stop and smell the roses along the way. Life is too short to not enjoy the journey. Thankfulness has a way of slowing us down so we can enjoy life with the people who matter most to us.

5) Thankfulness is good for you. Your physical, mental, and spiritual health will reap the benefits from a thankful heart. With a thankful heart you will see better results from all your efforts which will in return reduce stress in your life. And with less stress you will be a healthier person.

6) Thankfulness is God's way. As Christians we know that keeping God at the center of our marriages is a vital part of a successful marriage. But you cannot keep God at the center of your marriage if your heart is not thankful. If you take your relationship with the Lord serious then you know He wants you to be thankful.

7) Thankfulness improves communication. You and your spouse will have much better communication if you both express gratitude and appreciation toward one another. This is way more than just being polite and having good manners. It's like I said about attractiveness. Thankfulness will make you want to come closer and to know each other better, which is what real communications does for you.

8) Thankfulness makes for closer friendship. The bond that you want to have with your spouse that carries you through your entire lives will not come if you're not thankful for each other and this life you have together. Real friendship cannot exist unless you have mutual value for each other. And how can you value someone unless you're thankful for them.

9) Thankfulness improves your sex life. You can have the best sex life possible when you and your spouse put no pressure on each other. When you're thankful for the spouse you have and the sex life you have you make fewer demands and your expectations are much more realistic. And with fewer demands and fewer unrealistic expectations on your sex life you will both find it more enjoyable and most likely with more frequency.

10) Thankfulness sets the best example. Raising children can be one of the best things and one of the most stressful things that can take place in a marriage. While there is way too much to be said about raising children and the impact it has on marriage, I do want to mention this one thing. If you want the joy of seeing your children express thankfulness then there must be good examples set for them to mimic.

I realize this post is not the typical post I write. And maybe it seems a bit too light and simplistic, because I'm not dealing with the deeper issues I usually deal with. But I would encourage you to not overlook this important way of living life. I know the bible has lots to say about being thankful and for me if it's important to God then it ought to be important to us.

God bless! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Please share with us in the comments if you have something to add. We'd love to hear from you. 

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