Thankful to, not thankful for
you praised the gods of silver and gold,
bronze and iron, wood and stone,
that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.
But the God in whose hand is your life breath
and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify. (Daniel 5)
We have arrived once again upon Thanksgiving Day. The Norman Rockwell image of this day shows family gathering around a feast each sharing one thing they are thankful for. Gratitude is a gift in and of itself. It is a gift of recognition of having received something that we value. I have often written on being able to better recognize the work of God in our lives when we focus on gratitude. This morning’s reading from the book of Daniel brought to mind and heart an advanced course in gratitude. Off the top of my head, or better put heart, the immediate things that I am grateful for are graces and gifts. I am grateful for my family, for my family gathering with us here on the farm for our first big holiday. I am grateful for our first year of joint retirement and the adventures we have had. I am grateful for the beautiful friends in our lives. I am grateful for inspiration and creativity. I am grateful for our faith. The list above is the tip of the iceburg really, but it is not the advanced course in gratitude. My list is a list not really unlike that of the list in Daniel. It is a list of gifts and graces that come from God. The advanced course in gratitude is one simple challenge:
A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver. Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
This morning as I spent time in prayer I challenged myself to express gratitude to God not for any gifts or graces but for Himself. I had to mentally cross off a lot of attempts as I realized, “No, that’s a gift too!” I finally settled on the following…
Thank you God for being a wonderful Father. Thank you for the way You love me and how You love each of us so uniquely and perfectly. I love Your wisdom. I love the way You teach me. I love who I am when I spend time with you. Amen.
Even this can be argued as grace and gift, but I feel that the challenge is helping me to turn my gaze off the gifts and more to Him. It brought to mind a poem that I read frequently in high school by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How do I love thee. When I was in high school this poem was the benchmark of what I desired in a spouse. The gift of Wisdom reveals that the spouse I was desiring was the true inspiration for her poem, Love Himself. Check out the Quotables page for the poem. Spend time in gratitude for the Giver of all Gifts and Graces this Thanksgiving more so than the gifts and graces themselves. Amen.
