There is a story of a little boy who wanted his mother to pay him for all the services he was rendered in the home. He left her a note that read:
For washing the dishes, you owe me a dollar. For cleaning my room, you owe me a dollar. For hanging up my clothes, you owe me a dollar. For mowing the lawn, you owe me a dollar. Mama, you owe me, pay up.
He printed a bill for her, totaling four dollars and gave it to her.
The mother came and put out four dollars on the kitchen table with a note of her own. The note simply said:
For carrying you nine months and being sick as a dog, no charge. For staying up all night with you, night after night when you were sick, no charge. For working overtime so that I could get you those special tennis shoes, no charge. For entertaining your friends when you wanted to bring them over without notice, no charge. Signed, your mother who loves you. Total, zero.
After reading the note, that young man realized that he had lost sight of the goodness of his mother. He had taken for granted all that she did for him on a regular basis. To him the only question was, “What's in it for me?” That is called entitlement and ingratitude.
There is a very similar story in Luke 7 where Jesus is having dinner with a man named Simon. In comes a lady who has a "checkered" past. Clearly she had been changed by a belief in Christ and now she comes in with perfume that she had purchased just for this occasion. At first sight of Jesus, she began to cry and with her tears, she washed the feet of Jesus, drying his feet with her hair. Then she kissed his feet and poured her perfume on his feet. What an immeasurable expression of gratitude!
Simon, the Pharisee, was incredulous that Jesus, being a religious man, would allow such a woman to touch him. Jesus then asked Simon, there were two people who owed a debt to a moneylender with one owing five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty, with neither being able to pay, If both were forgiven their debt, which one would be the most grateful? Clearly the one that was forgiven the most, was Simon's correct answer.
Gratitude is hard to come by. The habits of the heart seldom include gratitude. In this season of Covid, I think it is especially difficult to be grateful. Nonetheless, our Lord's call to gratitude is not seasonal, but habitual.
Gratitude may not be the greatest of virtues, but it is hard to argue against such. Someone said it well, "Gratitude in not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." Gratitude lubricates relationships. However, when it is absent, it embitters the spirit and poisons relationships. Unthankful people are not only bitter, but often are the most unhappy. Another wise soul said, "He who forgets the language of gratitude can never be on speaking terms with happiness."
In spite of this 2020 year and all that it has brought, let's remember the important role of gratitude in our lives. From Luke 7, we learn that the redemptive work of Christ in our lives should burn an eternal torch of gratefulness and thanksgiving. Gratitude to God should be as regular as our heartbeat. Out of that grateful heart should flow a thanksgiving for all of our relationships with which God has blessed us. Equally, look around at the things we take for granted, and thank God for those things as well.
G.K. Chesterton, a writer, poet, critic, novelist and popular theologian, was one of the most remarkable individuals of the early 20th century. Toward the end of his life, he tried to state in one sentence the most important lesson he had learned from life. Here is how he said it, "the critical factor of life is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude."
May you have a wonderful and thankful thanksgiving.