It’s impossible to write about gratitude without feeling profoundly thankful for my readers. Knowing that time is your greatest asset, I value your attention as we consider “gratitude.” What is it, and why does it matter?
Look around: We’re trained by marketing and social media to focus on what we lack, right here, right now, no matter how trivial the thing might be. Self-pitying thoughts can quickly spiral into habits. The end result is the ugly stain of a discontented spirit.
Humankind always requires a reset when it comes to our focus. The Old Testament, especially in the Psalms of David, reminds us repeatedly to “give thanks to the Lord.” Why do ancient writers and subsequent faith traditions so intently stress this concept of gratitude? Quite simply, because life itself is a gift. We should never forget this. In the words of St. Paul, we ought to “give thanks in all circumstances.”
But how do we keep a good attitude in difficult times? How do we “count our blessings” when growth requires pain, or when God’s plan allows sorrow? Life in this world brings accidents, injuries, loss of family members, and sometimes worse. I can honestly say that, by faith, I have learned to be thankful. Even when I don’t feel like expressing gratitude, I can change my mindset when I remember His faithfulness.
This call to remember is the great lesson of the Old Testament Exodus story. While his people suffer in slavery, Moses hears God’s call to confront the cruel Egyptian Pharaoh. “Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. ... By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.” (Exodus 7:16-17) So begins the story of hard-hearted Pharaoh and the 10 plagues of Egypt. The gnats, the flies, the boils, the hail, and eventually, the death of the firstborn sons all drive Pharaoh to finally relent. When he later changes his mind, sending an army to trap the refugees at the edge of the Red Sea, God still performs miracles on the Israelites’ behalf. He parts the sea and buries their pursuers in a watery grave. The newly freed people press forward toward a divinely promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Whether you accept this story as fact or fiction, the moral is clear. The Hebrew nation had every reason to remember and to look forward, always giving thanks. Yet, their story—too often our story—is riddled with complaining and grumbling. At the sight of chariots, in the harsh desert beyond the sea, or in the face of monotonous food, they grumble against their leaders. In the chaos of their complaints, they forget God’s promises. They’re quick to make excuses, to make idols, or simply to give up. Yet, time and time again, their God shows His power and faithfulness.
We may not wander in literal deserts as the Israelites did, but each of us has known trials. So often, we worry about finances in the heat of the moment. I believe that only a heart of gratitude—a heart that remembers—can bring true perspective. I look back on my years as a young man to one of the worst real estate markets of my career. Now, I can clearly see God’s provision that carried us through peaks and valleys, good times and bad.
Even when nothing goes our way, we can choose to trust and remember. As the New Testament teaches, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ... Therefore, we do not lose heart.” In the stillness of our minds and hearts, may we pause every day to be thankful.
