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| “To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything [God] has given us - and [God] has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of [God's] love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from [God]. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” ― |
Grateful.
Thankful.
Synonyms.
But
with an exception.
The dictionary says this about the subtle difference between
the two:
Thankful is defined as “conscious
of benefits received.”
while
defining grateful as “appreciative
of benefits received.”
Notice the difference? It is in the way we experience being
thankful and being grateful.
To put it in an even more straightforward way: being “thankful” is being
aware of benefits received;
being “grateful” is appreciative of
benefits received.
Make sense?
Let me try one more time.
Being grateful is different than being thankful in that
gratitude necessitates that we are first affected by one another. Gratitude is
the complete package. It not only says, “Thank you,” from your mouths but also
from your heart. This is why gratitude is an essential spiritual discipline. It
is a practice that not only changes the human body physiologically but can
alter a community’s spirituality as well.
Gratitude can be compared to what happens in the story of
Jesus healing the Ten Lepers in Luke 17. All ten were cleaned, but one was
healed. The healing came when the one foreigner, the Samaritan, came back to
Jesus and prostrated himself at Christ’s feet—a sign of deep gratitude. In that
moment of contemplation, the leper was restored not only to the
community but to himself as well. Gratitude is about naming the presence of God
in our lives and the ways we have encountered Her graces.
The photo above is something for which I am grateful.
Three Sundays ago, we invited you to write down your joys, concerns,
confessions, and celebrations on four different pieces of colored tissue paper.
They were then transformed into a variety of flowers—a simple grade school art
project. The reasons why I am grateful for these flowers are many. First, most
of you gave yourself over to the invitation, which meant you believed the
process that was unfolding before you. Another reason I am grateful is that the
prayers written on those sheets of paper were honest, real, and beautiful. You
gave me the gift of getting a peek into your hearts, which are creative and
compassionate. Finally, the project made me appreciate your participation
because you helped me feel and become more aware of God’s presence in our
community. And over an hour or so of folding, cutting, and
bending pipe cleaners, I encountered the Triune God in the voices, pictures,
and words of this church.
As we enter deeper into this stewardship season, I invite
you to practice gratitude. I believe that if we all take a few minutes a day to
pause and name the things for which we are grateful, not only will our hearts
soften, but the heart of our community will as well. If we do, I think we will
discover precisely what that tenth leper did: we will find out what happens
when gratitude spills over into love. When we are stewards of our gratitude, we
will move from being made clean to be being healed.
Need help incorporating the practice of gratitude in your
life? Here is an easy way to do it using an ancient prayer. This is a version
of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.
1. Become aware of God’s
presence.
2. Review the day with gratitude.
3. Pay attention to your
emotions.
4. Choose one feature of the
day and pray from it.
5. Look toward tomorrow.
If you would like more information about each step, follow this link to learn more about the Ignatius Examen.
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