GRATITUDE CHANGES EVERYTHING

My doctor tells me what to do about my diabetes and high blood pressure.

My dentist tells me what to do about my teeth and gums, how to brush and floss.

My accountant tells me how to manage money...Canada Revenue has thoughts about that as well.

My plumber/furnace tech tells me what I need to have water and heat.

My mechanic (he's a good guy) tells me how to keep my truck running.

That's just the tip of the iceberg...there are a lot of people telling me what to do.

It can be overwhelming at times.

Here's some advice I got recently from author Diana Butler Bass.  I think it's advice that is as important as any that I get from the folks above.  Her advice is about practicing true gratitude - the gratitude that surfaces when life is easy and when life is getting me down. 

Ms. Butler Bass has recently published a book titled, "Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks."  She says, "There's a different way to live that's really possible...and I think that gratitude is one of the gateways into that world."  She writes that when it comes to giving thanks, most of us tend to operate from a structure of debt and duty.  In other words, when being offered or when receiving a gift of any sort, I frequently think in terms of some benefactor to whom I will be in debt if I accept the gift.  That's a very transactional response, calculating, not at all grateful.  Instead of a sense of gratitude, my focus is on how I can discharge that debt, how will I return the favour.  There's no grace in that.

There's different way to live in gratitude.  Ms. Butler Bass reminds us of the story of Jesus in Luke's Gospel, about the dinner party and who gets invited.  It's not just family and friends and people who will likely return the favour; instead, the invitation is to guests who are poor, who are marginalized, who are likely never going to afford to repay the debt.  In that story, Jesus tells me to offer my gift without the expectation of payback in any form.  If I can offer and receive what life brings me in that way, it will lead me to abundant gratitude and that will lead to a grace-filled life.

It sounds easy, but I know it isn't.  I've got bad habits that I need to break.  I need to pay attention to how my gratitude comes out - not calculating or controlling, not conditional...just deeply thankful.  I think it could change everything.

May we all be blessed in giving and receiving this season...

Pat

A Week's Worth of Gratitude

Saturday ~ being up and around

Sunday ~ music and friends

Monday ~ crashing waves and roaring winds

Tuesday ~ sunshine and blue skies

Wednesday ~ supper with friends

Thursday ~ the food bank

Friday ~ Ginger and Kathy

Friday Devotion
Christ invites us to a different life,

to a life not of payment and debt, but of God's grace.

God created us to practice a life of grace,

both freely giving and receiving,

until our time is finished and complete.

~ Andrew Yee, Stanwood, Washington ~