How grateful are you?
Two friends met on the street one day. One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my friend?”
The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“But you see, two weeks ago a cousin I never even knew died and left me eighty-five thousand dollars free and clear.”
“Sounds to me that you’ve been very blessed.”
“You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week, my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million dollars from her.”
Now the man’s friend was really confused. “Then, why do you look so glum?”
“Because, this week, I haven’t inherited anything!”
That’s the problem if we receive gifts over and over, we come to view them as an entitlement, as something that is owed to us.
It is the same way with the blessings of God’s gifts that we receive every day, especially those of us living in North Lake Tahoe. For example, we enjoy clean air, the beautiful scenery around us, the clean water we drink and of course the lake! We don’t see them as gifts, but rather as things we take for granted.
After receiving these gifts (and a multitude of others) for years, we simply fail to be grateful. We have come to expect these good things. And when one of them is removed for a brief time, like electricity or the internet due to a power outage, or the ability to get to Reno or Carson City because of a road closure, we become upset.
Let’s make an effort today to recognize the blessings we’ve come to take for granted. Focus on what we have rather than on what we don’t have. See if it doesn’t improve our whole attitude.
There are several valuable lessons in our scripture readings today. God’s gifts are so freely given, yet we take them for granted.
From the first reading, we learn that, because of the generosity of God, salvation is open to all people. Naaman, the officer from the foreign land of Syria, is not an Israelite. He suffered from a form of leprosy, yet he was healed and cured. God’s generosity is extended to everyone. In God’s eyes, all people are precious, and all people are called to eternal salvation. We need to be grateful for that.
From Paul’s letter to Timothy, we learn that because of God’s generosity, nothing can separate us from God unless we make that intentional choice. As Paul puts it, “If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we persevere we shall also reign with Him.” Even if we are unfaithful to God, God will remain faithful to us. We need to be grateful for that.
From the gospel, we learn that because of God’s generosity, ten lepers were cured. Fortunately, one came back to thank Jesus. We need to be grateful for that one leper.
We may not be used to siding with the nine who seem ungrateful. But to call them ungrateful would be an oversimplification. Perhaps they were so overjoyed at their cure that they ran into town to be with their families and do the things that they had been prevented from doing for so long. Maybe they were waiting to see if the cure was real and lasting. Maybe they would come back later to thank Him.
But then again, maybe they were just ungrateful!
It is like the story of the man diagnosed with brain cancer when he was still young and only in his early thirties. He had a wife, children and a promising career. Suddenly, all of that was swept away.
He could barely talk and was in constant agony. Friends and co-workers strangely started to avoid him as if they could catch cancer just by being in contact with him. The alienation was killing him as much as the disease. He did find a surgeon who offered to operate on him. After a 9-hour procedure, the tumor was removed. The man totally recovered and went on to live a happy and highly successful life.
Five years later, that same surgeon died. The man’s wife noticed the doctor’s name in the obituary column.
“We should go to the funeral,” the wife said.
“I’d like to, but I have a golf game tomorrow,” the husband replied.
He may have been grateful to the doctor, but he sure didn’t take the time to show it.
We all know that feeling of disappointment when others fail to express their gratitude. Even Jesus felt that disappointment. “Were there not ten? Where are the other nine?” Jesus’ regret that the others did not return may have been based on the fact that He had more to share with the nine. He cured all ten, but He was only able to “heal” the one who came back.
The curing deals with the physical illness, but the healing deals with the spiritual pain and hurt. The healing is the forgiving.
What Jesus said to the grateful leper is what Jesus says to us who are grateful, “Your faith has saved you.” Today, right now, we need to say a prayer of thanks for our gift of faith.
There is nothing more powerful than a true spirit of gratitude. I believe a grateful heart is the key to living life to the fullest. The habit of being grateful increases our inner happiness and well-being.
To harness the power of gratitude, you must make it a part of your daily routine. Developing an attitude of gratitude has many benefits:
Go ahead. Create a better, more desirable life for yourself. Unleash the power of gratitude and have a grateful heart.
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