Gratitude
I look at the headboard of the old wooden bed and I see where my youngest daughter carved her name when she was just learning to print. I look at that now and I smile. I remember how angry it made me at the time.
I look at my oldest granddaughter with all the love that a heart can hold, and I smile. I remember how that same heart was broken when I learned about the pregnancy that was bringing her to us.
I remember stories about my grandmother: how she fought for women’s right to vote, how she once voted Communist just to prove her point, how she and my grandfather drove from Jackson Michigan to Key West with a two year old in 1920, how independent she was and how grumpy she got in her old age, and I smile because I have some of her qualities – probably the ones I liked least.
These comments have what to do with gratitude? I have pondered this for several days; my conclusion is that gratitude is one side of an experience; the other side can be anger, heartbreak, disappointment or even a petty annoyance that can be identified with any seemingly negative event that happens in our lives. Gratitude is a learned response. Life changes how we see things that happen. Maturity changes how we see things that happen. Choice changes how we see things that happen.
I truly believe that each of us is exactly where we need to be for the Lord to work in our lives. That means – to me – that we should choose to be grateful for each and every thing that happens, each and everything that goes right or goes wrong in our lives. Gratitude is a learned response.
In John 11, we read the familiar story of the death of Lazarus, how Jesus called him back from the dead. Scripture tells us that they took away the stone from the mouth of the cave. And then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I am grateful that you have heard me.” (John 11:41)
Before God’s glory could be seen, the stone had to be rolled away from the grave. That, it seems to me is what we have to do. We have to remove the stone of doubt, of anger, of heartbreak or disappointment, whatever the stone might be – before we become grateful enough to recognize God’s glory and show Him our gratitude.
It is easy to show gratitude when nothing is going wrong. It is harder to smile when nothing is going right, but gratitude is a learned response.
Gifts—A Writers’ Workshop
October 2012
Class 1
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