Big picture gratitude …

‘Tis the season for some people to scoff at the idea of having a national holiday for the giving of thanks, pointing out we should be thankful every day of the year.

They are right, we should be.

But we usually aren’t.

And that includes those people who mutter such things.

The fact is, we human beings are not naturally grateful creatures, at least we aren’t very good at “consistent gratitude” where we live thankfully unto God every day of our lives. We’re better at being grateful during those moments when we “dodge bullets” and skate by potential worse-case scenarios.

Sort of like the experience that scared 75-year-old Ron Sveden of Brewster, Mass. In August of 2010, the Associated Press reported the story of how Sveden was suffering from failing health, difficulty breathing, and aggravated coughing spells. Tests showed an “ominous dark spot” on his lung, which he concluded was probably cancer.

Though Sveden himself feared the worst, his doctors told him that tests were inconclusive, and only exploratory surgery would prove definitive. Upon removal of the mass, lab work concluded it was nothing more than an aspirated pea which had sprouted in the dark, moist environment of his lung. Needless to say, Sveden was greatly relieved to know the certain doom he’d projected would not come to pass.

Such poignant moments when things could have been much worse than they turned out to be tend to sober us to a deep feeling of gratitude … for the moment. The problem is, those moments don’t last long, and that overwhelming feeling of gratitude eventually fades for most of us.

Moments or even a “season” of gratitude isn’t a life lived thankfully unto the Lord, it’s often a selfish sigh of relief that we’ve avoided some suffering.

Whether or not you really are a person who lives thankfully unto God is not measured by spurts and stutters of appreciation — or a moment of prayer before a Thanksgiving Day feast; a thankful person doesn’t have a grateful attitude over just the narrow measure of his or her life alone. A person who is a thankful person is grateful for the goodness, greatness, and graciousness of God not only in their own lives, but find joy and gratefulness in what God is doing even far beyond themselves. This kind of “big picture gratitude” is captured in the following passage of scripture as the Apostle Paul expresses gratitude and joy in what God was doing in the lives of others …

“I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. Through him, God has enriched your church in every way — with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true. Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” 1 Corinthians 1:4-9.

Many families have a Thanksgiving Day tradition that, as they settle around the table preparing to do great damage to their waistlines, they go around the table sharing something they’re grateful for. We tend to limit our thinking that being a grateful person depends on something good being measurable at the current time. Paul’s attitude was very different. As Paul writes various letters to Christians in different parts of the world, he expresses the genuine gratitude of a truly thankful person even though some of his greatest expressions of gratitude came as he crafted these letters from a prison cell in Rome.

In the kingdom of God, the source and motivation for gratitude are very different. Instead of being tied directly to self-benefit, thankfulness is sourced in seeing the goodness, greatness, and graciousness of God expressed whether it’s in one’s own life, or in the lives of others we’ve never met living halfway around the world.

I have a friend who hasn’t discovered this “big picture gratitude” yet.

He’s a single guy who despises being single. Suddenly several of his single friends are announcing engagements or posting pictures of recent weddings. Instead of rejoicing in what God is doing in their lives, and finding joy and gratitude in their blessings, my friend has removed himself from social media so he won’t see their expressions of happiness.

That’s because instead of celebrating God’s work of love and beauty regardless of who benefits directly, my friend makes himself depressed because he isn’t the direct benefactor of such specific blessings. Even though his life is full of different blessings, and his friends are being blessed, he hasn’t learned to be thankful for the goodness, greatness, and graciousness of God expressed in his life and around him, but instead focuses on what is missing from his life that he wants. My friend’s attitude is echoed in the shadows of the attitude captured by the unidentified writer of the following …

Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her — she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet — the world is mine.

And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm; I said, “It’s nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find”; he turned and said, “Oh, thank you sir.” And then I saw that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.

Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do; I stopped a moment, then I said, “Why don’t you join the others, dear?” He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I’d go; with eyes to see the sunset’s glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine

Just because you can think of something to be thankful for as you sit at the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day doesn’t mean you’re a thankful person or that you’re living a life of gratitude toward God. Can you be thankful, grateful, and content looking beyond yourself at the goodness, greatness, and graciousness of God around you, or does it take being the direct benefactor of a specific blessing for you to live the life of a truly thankful person?

Scotty