Gratitude
For what or to whom are you thankful now? This is no light question in an age of massive ingratitude and taken-for-grantedness. Hardly a day goes by that we do not wonder what became “please” and “thank you.” Perhaps you have some reasons now to give thanks. Maybe a loved one has experienced a healing or a blessed death. Maybe you have made a significant step in rebuilding a broken relationship. Maybe a problem that has been laying heavy on your heart has been eased, or a surprising sense of strength has been tapped.
Maybe you are glad for your spouse and your years of love and dedication together. Maybe you have “only just begun” and you are filled with a young love that will hopefully last for many years. Parents often feel pride at the accomplishment of their children, especially as they learn to become independent and grown up. It is easy to imagine giving thanks for a teacher or special friend who said or did right thing at the right time. Each of us has his or her own story of gratitude. Too often we simply forget how much we have received. We also forget how much we have given to others.
There are less dramatic things for which we are grateful: a cold drink on a hot day working hard; a cool rain breeze after a dusty dry season; a clear star-filled night; running our fingers through the grass and moist earth; the laugh of a child; the thrill of one’s team winning the game. We gave thanks for those everyday folks who share our burdens and help us to keep on keeping on. These are the “golden friends” around whom we are comfortable. They do not pressure us to perform, wear masks or be something we are not.
For things and people great and small, we should be thankful. But let us also give thanks for our crosses, burdens, defeats and sufferings. Yes it is crucial for us to learn to give thanks for our burdens so that they can become our bridges. For some of our greatest opportunities for growth only come at the cost of a great suffering or trial. There is a pain which accompanies every victory.
Think of the Samaritan leper who, along with the others, cries out to Jesus for pity. On their way to show themselves to the priest in accordance with the law, the lepers are cured. Only the Samaritan returns to give thanks. A deeper healing has taken place; the Samaritan has developed a living faith for true healing (salvation). Yet without his leprosy he might never have had a reason to cry out to Jesus. He might have continued to lead an average life. But his cross (leprosy) became an opportunity for true healing. He seized the moment when Jesus passed to ask his help, and returned to give thanks. This is just one example of God’s work of grace healing the broken places of human existence.
In the second Book of Kings (5: 14-17), Naaman, a foreigner, is cleansed of his leprosy and comes to believe in the living God. St. Paul writing to Timothy has suffered for the sake of the Gospel: “This is the gospel I preached; in preaching it I suffer as a criminal, even to the point of being thrown into chains – but there is no chaining the word of God!” Paul was brought low and blinded before he came to see the way to glory. Both Naaman and Paul are what they are because of God’s healing grace working through their brokenness. Paul learns to love the Lord more and more as he experiences greater hardships.
So it is with us. We began by asking: For what or to whom are you thankful this time? The list is incomplete if we do not give thanks for our crosses and burdens. Why? Because God’s grace is at work ready to heal us in ways we never imagined and empower us to become what he has meant us to be.
A final question: are we like the nine who are healed but do not give thanks? Or do we give thanks now for things and people great and small? Do we give thanks for our crosses and burdens? I so doing, we know we shall hear the word of Jesus, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has been your salvation.”
