UNGRATEFULNESS: The Dream- Slayer

My last few posts, I’ve been talking about dreams and how important it is to realise that our life’s dreams and ambitions are not just about us, but that they have a greater purpose, to fulfil not our ideals and desires for our own lives, but to accomplish our mission set to by GOD. And so with this truth in mind we must realise that these dreams that we have are bigger than us and does have a place in this world, a place marked by God himself.

So this led me on a journey to uncover the things that separate us from our God- given dreams. time, I focused on Comparison, last time which for me is a NUMBER ONE dream killer. But there are a few other dream slayers that are lurking out there, waiting for opportunities to ‘attempt’ to hijack God’s plan for our lives. All of them being the result of deceptive and unproductive seeds planted by the enemy.

 I meant to post this closer to Thanksgiving, but life began to look so different around that time and it became a real challenge to work on my blogs. But nevertheless, here I am. Today we’re talking about dream- slayer #2 Ungratefulness.

Ungratefulness. Thanklessness. Lack of Gratitude. Ingratitude. Lack of Appreciation

While I totally agree that the more you practise gratitude the more natural it will become a way of thinking and living, I am aware that at times we tend to be more grateful about somethings rather than other things in life. I’ve also noticed, particularly with me, it’s way easier to be more grateful in certain seasons of life rather than others. When you get the call that the job is yours, we are forever, thanking God, for coming through. 1 year later when the bills are piling up, and you can’t seem to cut down that credit card bill and you feel swallowed up by financial obligations, we tend to worry and anxiety tends to replace the once gracious spirit we had.

 I realise that at least for me, it is a whole lot easier to be more thankful for the things that I have experienced or the tangible things that I can see and feel presently in the moment. Very rarely do I jump to give thanks for what has not manifested yet. Instead of thanking God for such, I plead and beg more for the things that have not manifested yet such as my future dreams.

I am learning that I need to remain in a mindset of gratitude and praise, because my ‘now’ is very much a part of my ‘later’ 😊.   Things may not look like I want them to, or even how I expected them to at this point in my life, but this is the road that is leading me to where God is taking me. And I need to be grateful for every lesson learnt, every setback, every small win, every tiny victory, every epic fail.  As long as I, continue to trust God and follow his will with a willing heart, I am on the right path.

Our dreams are a glance into the futures that await us. And so, it’s really hard to say thank you for something you haven’t physically received as yet. Instead, we complain about, how long it’s taking, and why things don’t seem to me moving in the right direction. And we get tired of being ‘where we’re at right now, doing what we’re doing right now.’

I’m reminded of ‘Hannah Banana’ (my baby girl) as I write this. When she was much younger and we were trying to teach her to say please and thank you, we would proceed to give her a snack, or her cup or a toy or whatever it was, and we would hold onto it, until she said ‘thank you’. And like you might expect, it would be a tug- of- war scenario, as she would only say thank you, not as I gave it, but once it was satisfyingly in her hands and out of mine. Can we blame her? She hadn’t quite received it yet. She wasn’t holding it in her grasp. The desired object wasn’t fully in her possession yet. I think sometimes we train ourselves to operate our gratitude in the same way. We train ourselves to say thanks and be content AFTER we have received what we desired or asked for, But God call us to ‘‘always be thankful’’, in your ‘BEFORE’, your ‘DURING’ and your ‘AFTER’.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

And so, our dreams are one of those big desires that tends to push us to live in a ‘wanting’ mindset. Not that we intend to be ungrateful, but sometimes our present situation feels so far off from where we are trying to go, and we begin to get discouraged, frustrated, angry. We begin to feel despair. Then all these feelings swirl together to give off the stink of complaining and ungratefulness. It’s hard to be grateful for what we have and where we are when there is a passion for more. Patience, my friends (and we will talk about that it in the next post)!

We must intentionally choose to be thankful for our current situation and realise that it is the divine path, (if we’re obedient) that will lead us to greater.

When we are stuck in the cycle of complaining and being miserable in our current situation it hinders and blinds us from seeing how God is working in the present to bring our dreams to fruition. We get caught up in what looks like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces, and we cannot see how they all fit together to complete a brilliant picture of success. I encourage you along with myself today to look at your ‘now’ situation and ask God to teach you everything you need to learn that will prepare you for the unknown. Ask him to open your eyes to see that everything in your life is divinely and strategically designed to fulfil the purpose HE has placed in you.

 Ask him to change your heart and your mind to be thankful for the process and all that he is ‘giving’ you in the future. Thank him for placing purpose, drive and courage in you to pursue your dreams and then just thank him for the dream, the desire, the passion and trust Him to lead you to it with a grateful heart along each step of the way.

So, in this season, keep your eyes on Jesus, and be thankful for your NOW because your NOW is a part of your NEXT.

But thanks be to God! For through what Christ has done, he has triumphed over us so that now wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume.

2 Corinthians 2:14 (TLB)