A guest post tonight from a Christian point of view, written by my sister, Lisa Z. Morgan. Enjoy!

“I was saying my morning prayers, thanking God for a good night’s sleep, for my family, for many good things in my life. I realized that if I listed the specific things for which I was grateful I could keep God tied up for an hour or two. I said ‘well, you know what I am thankful for, because you gave it to me.’

“At that point an insight came to me as to why it was important to thank Him specifically for the things for which I was most grateful at that moment. See, God doesn’t give us any instructions that are not for our own good and benefit. The very act of listing and enumerating my blessings added to my sense of gratitude, of well-being, of feeling loved by God. And a heart full of gratitude has far less room available for sorrow, self-pity or despair. When we realize how well cared-for we have been, it renews our faith that God will care for us in the day and days to come as well, so anxiety is driven out as well.

“It is interesting that in the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gave as an example of how we ought to pray, there is no word of thanks. Instead it is all about requests: feed us, lead us, forgive us. I wonder if that is because Jesus had no need of the blessings thankfulness brings? I have no insight there, I just know that for us humans, gratitude for our blessings is in itself a blessing.”