The God of Gratitude

The Power of Thank You: Discover the God of Gratitude

by Joyce Meyer (Hodder and Stoughton, £9.99 / €11.99)

Each moment that you’re given,” Joyce Meyer writes, “is a precious gift from God.”

How often were we told when small to ‘say thank’ on so many occasions? But how little it affects the adult world. Many are hasty to blame, slow to say a kind word.

But that generalised gratitude to God that Meyer writes of, becomes more focused when it is a small child saying ‘Thank you Granny’, or a friend saying ‘Well done girl, that was a great goal’.

These may seem small things, but if we could fill our days with such small moments of kindness how much happier the world would be, how much more like that ideal way of living that so many claim to bring us to, but somehow never do.

As an evangelical Joyce Meyer calls on her readers to thank God for the salvation of their souls. And yet, when we look around at the world, we can see that it is easy to be grateful to God, while being ungracious to others.

The essence of Gospel teaching, of what Jesus really wants his followers to hold to, is that we “do unto others what we would have them do unto us”.

The gratitude we feel should encompass others too. We need to thank others for their existence. But as a mere glance at the morning paper, or the news flashes on your phone, will tell you, that is not easy in the modern world that surrounds us, but which has not quite overwhelmed us.