Thoughts on Gratitude
November 22, 2020
Meeting notes
A large crowd of 5000 men, not counting women and children, were swarming around Jesus, eager to hear his teaching. They must have been completely overwhelmed at His words because they prioritized being around Him over tending to their own personal needs such as finding food and shelter for the night. As we well know, not one of them went home hungry that night.
It’s important to note that before distributing the five small loaves and a few small fish, Jesus did something simple and profound, the same thing He did when feeding the 4,000 and before raising Lazarus from the dead. He did something that can easily be overlooked, “He gave thanks and broke the loaves...they all ate and were satisfied.” (Mark 6:41) No long religious prayer, no appealing to God as if to convince Him.
Gratitude.
Gratitude as opposed to thankfulness is a state of internal being, unaffected by circumstance. It describes your character – who you are. We’re all familiar with situations that test our levels of gratitude. When we experience deep pain or raw emotions of unworthiness it is difficult to be grateful. But later, as gratitude settles in us, we experience the fact that God makes all things work together for good.
The opposite of gratitude is not being ungrateful, it is the belief that we never have enough, we aren’t good enough, or what we do have is not sufficient. It is called the scarcity complex and it pervades many parts of our lives. It thrives off of comparison with others or competition with them. Scarcity tries to convince us that if we accept what we already have, our lives will never improve. However, until we know that every event in our lives, good and bad, can be used to teach us and help us continually grow, we will live in a prison of unforgiveness, hopelessness, or shame. Scarcity measures our life by what we have, Gratitude measures our life by who we are.
Take Ann Voskamp, for example. Author of 2016 NYTimes Bestseller, One Thousand Gifts, Voskamp questioned the egoic drive for more material wealth and affirmation, and instead took time to chronicle 1000 gifts that already existed in her everyday life. Through her journey of gratitude, Voskamp discovered that the life she had always wanted was the life she already had.
Ultimately, through practices of gratitude we enlarge our view of the world and the abundance of life, or as acclaimed author, Lynne Twist writes, “what you appreciate appreciates”. That is, when you are grateful for something it grows – in importance and value. There is no room then for looking for what we don’t have.
Being in gratitude places us in a position that enables and fosters forgiveness. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Thessalonians who suffered because of their faith in Jesus:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
