Grow Better

Pastor James Moore, once wrote a book entitled “You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better”. He wrote that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to him in a most tragic moment in her life. She had tears in her eyes and her knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief. She had just received word that her twenty-six-year-old husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three pre-school age children. One moment he was alive and vibrant, the next moment gone. “I don’t know how I am going to be able to get along without him,” she sobbed. “But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better.”

Moore went on to write that one way that we can get better rather than bitter is to cultivate a heart of gratitude. That is easier said than done after facing a life-altering tragedy.  But there are few other options.

My prayer is that you and I would begin even now counting our blessings. May we develop hearts that are full to overflowing with thanksgiving. And, may that gratitude ever protect us from bitterness or hard hearts.

Let us pray: Holy God, your blessings fall like rain around us on every side. Give us eyes to see, hearts to receive, and words to give thanks. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.