Gratitude Vs. Entitlement
“It’s not happy people who are grateful. It’s grateful people who are happy.” This is so true.
Research has proven that gratitude is essential for true happiness. However, today is so rampant with entitlement that gratitude has regressed into just a mere feeling versus a virtue that leads to action. Ungratefulness is the failure to acknowledge a favor and feel entitled to it. However, just as gratitude is the king of virtues, ingratitude is the king of vices and self-centeredness.
For those with an ungrateful heart, they believe they are OWED! They lose sight of all they have been blessed with, which renders them spiritually and morally bankrupt. Lincoln once said:
” We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation ever has, but we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied, enriched, and strengthened us. In the deceitfulness of our hearts, we have vainly imagined that some superior wisdom and virtue of our own produced all these blessings.”
Contemporary research paints a fascinating picture of those who live life ungratefully. Ungrateful people tend to be characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, arrogance, vanity, and an unquenchable need for approval. Narcissists reject the ties that bind people into a relationship of reciprocity. They EXPECT special favors and feel no need to be thankful and/or ever pay forward. Entitlement lies at their core.
Counting blessings is replaced with counting grievances that always outnumber the benefits and the gifts.
In essence, they — the ungrateful — are never, ever pleased.
Though gratitude is born out of humility, it understands the blessing of creation and the love and sacrifice of Christ. This understanding leads to acts of prayer, attention, and responsibility.
Grateful people are not just happy, they also purpose to be appreciative and bless those they meet.
The key question is — Where do you fall?
I challenge you to be grateful, be blessed, and know this world lacks genuine gratitude. If you do, I promise you’ll be happier, and YOU will make this world a better place.
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at 1 Reputation. We are grateful to you!