“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” Phil. 1:3

I often think of gratefulness as an attitude I'm supposed to have towards God, and it clearly is, but the Bible also tells us to be thankful for other people. Take a quick look through Paul's letters and see how many times he mentions being thankful for other people. You don't have to look far, he usually mentions it within the first five verses. Paul was thankful for other people . . . all of them, even when they were making life difficult for him. Sometimes he had to rebuke them, but even in the midst of rebuke, he was truly grateful for them. I don't know about you, but that's not very easy for me, consistently being thankful for other people. It's much easier to spend my thankfulness on me.

When you hear someone else's name, what pops into your head? To be honest, if I hear the name of a close friend and pull out my mental file on them, the first page might be something complimentary. If they are not a close friend, I usually think about what I wish they would do better and how much better I am. And if they are not a friend at all, the first page of their file usually reads about like a criminal arraignmnent. (Okay, it's not always that bad! I'm not completely rotten. . . at least not quite;) The point is that it's easier to focus on the ways people don't measure up than the the ways they have helped me. And believe me, other people have helped me, even when they weren't trying to, simply because God works all things together for good. I'm not talking about flattery (it is more despicable to lie about nasty thoughts than to ignore them) I'm talking about what I think to myself about them when they are out of sight and earshot.

That's what God has been showing me this past week. Yes, be thankful to God and all He's done, but don't forget to be thankful for the people around you, even if they haven't gone out of their way to be nice to you. Without adversity we are weak, and without fellowship we are cold. (Iron sharpens iron, and a three-fold courd is not quickly broken.) Next time someone comes to mind, see if you can think of at least one reason why they are good for you. It's not as easy as it sounds. Being thankful is much more than just looking for the best in other people, it is acknowledging that God can and does use all types of people to mold us into His image.

Mike.