"Cheerful"

He rode up lookin’ cheerful,

With a smile upon his face,

And everybody liked him,

When he showed up at our place.

A hand at workin’ cattle,

A horseman with a seat,

No arrogance, but humble,

And quick when on his feet.

Long days of bad, old weather,

And cattle hard to mind,

But still he kept on smiling,

It would be hard to find,

One with more consistency,

No grumble or complaint,

There to help with any task,

Said he could, no cain’t.

And finally I asked him why,

He lived his life this way,

And it might surprise you,

‘Bout what he had to say.

Said he had been a rounder,

An outlaw so it seems,

Bad to drink and carry on,

To negative extremes.

But someone said that he should come,

To hear a cowboy preach,

He’d never really been to church,

Thought he was out of reach.

But with his friend he went that night,

And in that altar call,

He came to know the Savior,

Who died and rose for all.

And the reason for his cheerfulness,

And attitude displayed,

He credited the grace of God,

And the difference that it made.

Said that he was learning,

To always thankful be,

Said he didn’t always get it done,

But prayed that he could see,

The blessing of the day that comes,

The rising of the sun,

And all the good things God will give,

Before the day is done.

That night before I closed my eyes,

I got down by my bed,

Remembering my blessings,

And the words that cowboy said.

And there before I went to sleep,

I prayed and asked the Lord,

To come and take control of me,

With Him to be on board.

The wind was just as cold next day,

The work was uphill, too,

But somehow things were better,

With all we had to do.

And though this happened long ago,

Back on our old home place,

And that old cowboy’s long since gone,

I still see his smiling face.

A cheerful, strong demeanor,

A man with lots of skill,

But someone who lived thankfully,

According to God’s will.

And that is what I try to do,

The Spirit leads the way,

Give thanks in every circumstance,

And every single day.

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus…” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NLT)

No amount of guilt tripping can motivate thankfulness. We might feel obligated to worship and guilty when we don’t, but neither emotion will light the fire of praise in our hearts. What, then, will do it? To put it simply: the grace of God! When we cooperate with His grace, the thankfulness flows from our hearts and dominates our attitude. There is also the God-given desire to obey the Lord, and the Spirit’s power to get it done. All these components make it possible for us to develop the desire and discipline of giving thanks in every circumstance. Since we can, by the grace of God, we should.

Lord, help us to give thanks in everything, in Jesus’ name.

Photo by Kirstie Lambert, used by permission. Thanks, Kirstie, and God bless you.