Book Review: Gratitude Journal

Title: Gratitude Journal: Counting My Blessings



(Amazon insists that this is the correct book to go with the date, publisher, and ISBN. This is not the cover of the book I physically owned and reviewed...it must indicate a new edition. If I'd owned this edition, I would have listed the title as Dear God.)

Author: none admitted

Date: 2005

Publisher: World Publishing

ISBN: 0-5291-2057-7

Length: 380 pages

Quote: "Thanksgiving is an open gate into the love of God."

I acquired this book by accident, by donating the cost of a whole box of Christian books to a benefit sale. This one was in the box. But I have some reservations about reselling it.

There are people who feel a need to prod themselves to give thanks for what they have: the ambitious, hard-working achievers for whom no amount of promotions, pay raises, and expansions are enough. It's always possible to have more and they always feel as if they ought to be trying to have more--as if the alternative were to curl up and die of idleness. These people tend to become hypertensive, and need to do things that remind them to relax. Writing in a journal like this one may be among the activities a doctor has prescribed for them. These people can benefit from a book of mostly blank paper, with quotations printed in the margins to prod them to count their blessings.

Unfortunately, as a class, these people aren't the largest group of book buyers. People who buy books of mostly blank paper are students. Most students have time to learn new skills because they are underemployed and don't have much, or enough, money.

A hundred years ago, all English-speaking people seem to have been familiar with a little rhyme that admonished the have-more's who were tempted to offer the have-less's "encouraging words" instead of better wages: "The Toad beneath the Harrow knows exactly where each tooth point goes. The Butterfly upon the Road preaches contentment to the Toad."

Tragically, we've forgotten this little lesson today. People who are undeniably well off are apt to think, and occasionally to blurt out, things like "Some people seem to be content with less than I have. Surely it's better for those who have less to try to be thankful for what they have rather than become 'bitter' because they don't have more." These people don't seem to realize that their little gems of misguided wisdom are a prime cause of many of the feelings, words, and actions they seem to have in mind when they use the word "bitter."

When the word "bitter" means anything useful, it refers to a kind of flavor, and there is never any excuse for complaining about the way another human being tastes. When talking about human beings, if we're not cannibals, let's all stop using "bitter" and start saying "unpleasant to me."

This minor correction may also help us straighten out the way we think about people whose emotional moods are unpleasant to us. Why are we so attached to their emotional moods? If we really believe that these people are living with mood disorders, why are we unable to tune out emotional vibrations that have nothing to do with us? Can it be that we've been reminded that, if we were in their situations, we'd be unhappy too...and that their unhappiness could be alleviated by something we're trying not to admit we ought to do? Do we just need to keep more space between ourselves and them, or do we need to return or repay what we borrowed, stop making annoying noises, or share something we have that they need?

In the margin of one page of Gratitude Journal is a quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon: "If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled." Spurgeon was one of the most famous preachers of the nineteenth century, and did not owe his reputation to being a fool. He knew to whom he was saying this, and what he meant.

Some people need to be reminded that they are rich, especially when they are trying to borrow our money to invest in some ill-advised speculation. Some people, as documented by Deborah Tannen, may actually think that group wailing rituals about the things nobody really wants to change are ways to bond with friends, and/or pacify the evil spirits they believe are controlling their lives, and they may need to be reminded that this behavior is not something people from other cultures necessarily want to adopt.

Then there are people for whom Spurgeon's remark is not true at all. People whose income fluctuates from month to month know very well that, if your minimum expenses for the month are $200, you're not going to be content with $150 and you probably would be satisfied with $300.

The person who chose this pious thought for printing in what appears to be a student's journal was obviously less wise than Spurgeon. Most students are, by definition, trying to improve their financial situations; that is why they are students. Most of them are not satisfied with the amount of money and possessions they have, and most of them would be delighted if their incomes were doubled.

Of course, not all people who need material help can be satisfied even when their material needs are met. Disaster victims who have received adequate food and shelter are still unhappy about losing their jobs and not knowing what's become of their friends.

Whether we are talking about students, disaster victims, or other people who are genuinely dissatisfied with what they have, we need to take care to avoid trying to address Spurgeon's remark to people outside the specific minority of humankind to whom Spurgeon addressed it. Misdirecting wise words like Spurgeon's is, in fact, a very efficient way to identify oneself as a fool...in the biblical sense.

In real life, there is a good way to tell whether you are using thoughts like Spurgeon's remark correctly or incorrectly. The test is, "If I believe it's possible for this person to be content with what he or she has, then I would be willing to trade incomes with this person and show this person how content I could be with what he or she has." If we are giving or recommending uplifting books to other people, we need to check these books very carefully for misapplied quotes like this one.

If you believe that you have much to give thanks for and can benefit from making it a regular discipline to give thanks for your blessings, Gratitude Journal is for you. But please remind yourself to pray, at least once a week, that using this book will not tempt you to misuse any of the words or thoughts in it.

I would even recommend praying that, if ever you do try counting someone else's blessings for that person, God will save your soul by reducing your income to less than half of whatever that person has.

If you want a Gratitude Journal to use responsibly, send this web site $5 per book plus $5 per package plus $1 per online payment. This is a book of some size, as all mostly blank books ought to be; however, at least one more book of similar size will fit into a $5 package.