If the only prayer you say in your whole life is "Thank you," that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart
Meister Eckhart (1260-1329) was a German mystic who was of the Dominican order. In the above quote, he points out one of the single most important aspects to the Christian life: gratitude.
Why is gratitude important? I think that there are several reasons, but lets cover just a few in brevity; by doing so, my hope is that there is room for the reader to think about this topic and come up with some of your own reasons for being grateful.
Gratitude Takes Humility and Wisdom
If there is one thing that I think stands the test of time, it is that humility and wisdom are often directly proportional in a person's life. Gratitude often is a difficult thing because it means one of two things: either I needed the gift given or I can appreciate it, even if I didn't strictly need it. In the first case, it is obvious that it is often difficult to accept help when one needs it; I think we all can agree that our pride often gets in the way. In the second case, the wisdom that is necessary to realize when good things are given and that they did not have to be given takes time. By way of example, I remember my philosophy professor pointing out a rose and saying that it did not need the quality red or the scent that it carried in order to be a rose; if God wanted it gray and scentless, he could have made it so. In this way, Gratitude helps us to practice wisdom and humility in any given situation and those are Christ-like qualities.
Gratitude Pleases God
The only thing that is more of a let down than when someone doesn't say thank you is when someone thanks you for the gift you've given and then doesn't use it. It's like getting your friends a coffee maker for their wedding, receiving a hand-written "thank you" note saying how glad they are that you were at the wedding and then finding that coffee maker, still in the box, in the garage at their cook-out two years later. You feel let down; you feel like they didn't truly like the gift and that there was no joy derived from it. In your mind you had images of early morning brew gently rising them from slumber and ushering them into a beautiful day only to find out that they were likely still grabbing that Starbucks every morning on the way to work. Gifts are given so that joy and fullness can be experienced from them. The same is true for us and God; God gives gifts to all of creation. There are general gifts like nature and our bodies that are given to both believers and non-believers and there are spiritual gifts given to those who have become one with the Holy Spirit. In either case, we truly let God down when we take that gift and leave it in the box, on a shelf in our spiritual garage. Gratitude not only means saying thank you but using the gift because there is joy to be had in it and this pleases God.
Gratitude Brings People Together
When I was managing a restaurant, one of the most important things that I did for my employees was say "thank you." Most of them had never worked for someone who valued their creativity and efforts as much as their actual output. For example, we were tweaking a recipe and I asked one of my cooks to have some liberty with the recipe so that I could see what came of it. The first couple tries were a flop, but each time I encouraged him to try again and sincerely thanked him for his efforts. By the third or fourth time, he nailed it, confident in himself. He told me later that no one had ever thanked him for his work and made him feel valued that much. Gratitude inherently brings people into better relationships. When we thank people for their contributions and stop viewing people in utilitarian terms of what we can get from them, it is much easier to see them as people -- just like you. Ironically, no one likes being used, but most everyone struggles to intentionally make people feel valued. Gratitude is key in this effort.
This is Not the End
There is so much more to be said about gratitude and when you stop and think about it, thankfulness impacts so many areas of our lives; it touches our self-image, our relationships, our jobs, our families and more. Practice gratitude in sincerity and action, not just in hollow words and if you have to fake it until you make it, it's better to say it and learn to feel it later; remember that the wisdom to recognized deserved thanks only comes with maturity and we're not all there. Also remember that our prayers should be primarily articulations of our thankfulness and then secondarily requests. So think about how you can be more grateful today
and then do it.
peace,
C.M.
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