The Power of Gratefulness: Why Be Grateful?

Do you remember being asked, "What do you say?" as a kid, usually just after being given something?  Saying "thank you" is the first manner we learn as children, and we often think of it as courtesy toward the giver of a gift.  It is this, certainly, but do you know that gratitude affects the grateful one?  It impacts our physical bodies, our hearts, our minds, our relationships.  It changes our relationship with life, with goodness, with ourselves, with God.  This is even (perhaps especially) true for those who experience trauma and other great loss, people who some may think have little for which to be grateful.  Cinthia discusses what the Bible and research tell us about gratitude in this introduction to a week-long series.