Gratitude

Every year around this time I like to write about gratitude. It is such a noble virtue that completely changes our outlook on life. It makes us different and more attractive to the people around us. The reason it is important to work on gratitude is because without realizing it we often take so many things for granted. Here are a couple of examples.

A well-to-do businessman passed an old woman selling pretzels on the street on his way to his office. Every day he would rush by and toss a quarter in her cup, but never take a pretzel. He did so for several years, and finally one day he put down his quarter, and the lady took him by the arm and looked at him. And he looked at her and said, “You probably want to know why every day I leave twenty-five cents in the cup and never take a pretzel.” And she said, “No, I just want to tell you that pretzels are thirty-five cents now.

A man asked the postal clerk to fill out a postcard because he couldn’t write. When the clerk was finished he asked the man if there was anything else he needed. The man replied, “Write, ‘Please excuse the handwriting.’”

Though these stories are humorous, they are so typical of human behavior. It is actually quite easy to take people that God has placed in our lives for granted. When we overlook who they are and what they do for us, we miss seeing God’s hand working in our lives in wondrous ways.

The dictionary definition of gratitude is the quality of being thankful. What are you thankful for today? Let me tell you a few of things that I am thankful for. I am grateful for my parents and their investment into my life.  I am grateful for my wife, to whom I have been married for forty-two years. I am grateful for my three children and their spouses and for my five grandchildren. I am thankful for God’s faithful provision to me and my family over the years. I am grateful to God for his mercy and grace that He has poured out on me in the form of so many blessings that I did not deserve. I am so grateful for Jesus. I am thankful that he has saved me and cleansed me by his blood. I am thankful for the promise of eternity in heaven with Jesus and with all of God’s redeemed. David wrote many of his psalms with a grateful heart. Here is one of those psalms filled with gratitude:

Psalms 103:1-14

Praise the Lord, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2 Praise the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits — 

3 who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.