Thankfulness

“In the judgment of the true Christian, credit and reputation stand on ground not very different from riches. He should not prize them too highly or desire and pursue them with too much concern. However, when the hand of Providence gives them to him, he is to accept them with thankfulness and use them with moderation. He should be able to relinquish them, if it becomes necessary, without murmur.”

William Wilberforce

Real Christianity

The Thankful Heart and a Dish of Sand

“If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there are particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, and it would draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercy; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessing, only the iron in God’s sand is gold.”

Henry Ward Beecher