You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
It can be challenging for Americans to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the kitchen or the store and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road or skies. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Showing posts with label thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thanksgiving. Show all posts
11-28-24 - Gratitude and Joy
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say; to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, eleven years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a respite from the fear and division that has so gripped our land, a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
That Passeth All Understanding
An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.
A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?
When is daybreak?
Denise Levertov, Oblique Prayers, New Directions, New York, 1984, p. 85
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say; to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, eleven years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a respite from the fear and division that has so gripped our land, a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
That Passeth All Understanding
An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.
A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?
When is daybreak?
Denise Levertov, Oblique Prayers, New Directions, New York, 1984, p. 85
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
11-24-22 - The Seedbed of Joy
You can listen to this reflection here.
I realize this week’s Water Daily has been somewhat “US-centric,” focused on our Thanksgiving holiday, which we celebrate today with family, friends and too much food. When I first started Water Daily, my readers were local; now we’re an international group. I thank the non-Americans among us for tolerating this focus, and hope some of the gleanings are useful. Gratitude is universal.
I once asked a wise man how to cultivate joy, because I perceived I was lacking in that department. He said, “The ground of joy is gratitude.” That made sense – and it gave me something to do, to cultivate gratitude and see what kind of joy grew from that, like a garden of wildflowers.
As followers of Christ, we are invited to give thanks in all circumstances – in plenty and in want, in health and in sickness, at peace or not, employed or not. That is my thanksgiving prayer for you, that you find it easy to be thankful today – and if it’s challenging, that you will encounter God in the practice.
If you miss somebody today, give thanks for them and their life in yours.
If you're annoyed with someone today - imagine missing them, and give thanks.
If you lack something today, give thanks for what is before you and ahead.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
There's a good chance God is giving thanks for you...
A happy and healthy and blessed Thanksgiving to you -
wherever and with whomever you spend it.
Scroll down for information and registration link for our upcoming online Advent retreat morning.
I realize this week’s Water Daily has been somewhat “US-centric,” focused on our Thanksgiving holiday, which we celebrate today with family, friends and too much food. When I first started Water Daily, my readers were local; now we’re an international group. I thank the non-Americans among us for tolerating this focus, and hope some of the gleanings are useful. Gratitude is universal.
I once asked a wise man how to cultivate joy, because I perceived I was lacking in that department. He said, “The ground of joy is gratitude.” That made sense – and it gave me something to do, to cultivate gratitude and see what kind of joy grew from that, like a garden of wildflowers.
As followers of Christ, we are invited to give thanks in all circumstances – in plenty and in want, in health and in sickness, at peace or not, employed or not. That is my thanksgiving prayer for you, that you find it easy to be thankful today – and if it’s challenging, that you will encounter God in the practice.
If you miss somebody today, give thanks for them and their life in yours.
If you're annoyed with someone today - imagine missing them, and give thanks.
If you lack something today, give thanks for what is before you and ahead.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
There's a good chance God is giving thanks for you...
A happy and healthy and blessed Thanksgiving to you -
wherever and with whomever you spend it.
Scroll down for information and registration link for our upcoming online Advent retreat morning.
To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Next Sunday’s readings are here. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
ADVENT SPA FOR THE SPIRIT: Living Expectantly
Saturday, December 10, 9 am - Noon Online
Rev. Kate will lead an Advent online retreat morning on “Living Expectantly.” The story of God has more than a few unexpected pregnancies – women too old or too young filled with unexpected life. Through art and poetry, scripture and reflection we will examine what it means to live in expectation of blessing and fullness and hope.
Please sign up here. The retreat will be on Zoom; link and info will be sent in advance. 
11-21-22 - Getting Ready
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
It can be challenging to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge American cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a restful three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the kitchen or the store (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
It can be challenging to engage Advent before Thanksgiving, that huge American cultural celebration requiring preparation of its own. Forget about readiness to celebrate Christ’s incarnation – we have to get ready for the turkey! For many Americans, this is a week of blessing and stressing like few others. If we're hosting, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food; if we're traveling, we have to pack and prep. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by, God-willing, a restful three days, after which we plunge into the holy season.
We tend to prepare for things we either dread or anticipate – and Thanksgiving can have elements of both. How might we find ways to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations? I believe Jesus wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences. This week provides opportunities to experience God’s presence amidst the bustle and company of others, if not in serene isolation.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the kitchen or the store (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you’re participating in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales… ask yourself whether that deal is worth the time and angst it’s going to take. If you love it, go for it (and remember Small Business Saturday…)
Let’s move through this intense week as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are gifted. We can make this week more blessed than stressed.
11-25-21 - Gratitude and Joy
You can listen to this reflection here.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say, to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, nine years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
I once asked a wise person how to cultivate joy. And he said, “Joy grows out of gratitude." So I’ve made an effort to foster an attitude of gratitude, as they say, to lead with thankfulness for what is, before I focus on what’s missing. Here are a few Thanksgiving Day thankfulnesses:
I am so grateful for this Water Daily community of readers, listeners, thinkers, commentators and pray-ers. I don’t know exactly how many or who reads or hears this on any given day, but some readers drop a note often enough to give me a sense that this is a conversation, even if I’m doing most of the talking.
And I am grateful for the opportunity to write (or often, nine years in, re-write) this thing every day. Some days, I know exactly what I’m supposed to say and it comes flowing forth. The best days are when I didn’t know, and the Holy Spirit surprises me. Unsurprisingly, those are often the best posts and receive the most feedback. No matter what the process, it gives me a chance to engage with the gospel text for Sunday, and allows creativity to flow from parts of my consciousness that don’t always get the air time they should.
And I am grateful that these words help some preachers to connect with the passage in fresh ways, and some congregants to better appreciate the sermons they hear on Sunday. God is so all over this whole process, it makes me smile just to think of the space we’re giving the Spirit to play!
I wish the Americans among us a blessed and restful and delicious Thanksgiving weekend with loved ones; and all of you a time of grateful enjoyment of your own sweet self, and the Spirit of God.
Here is a thankfulness poem for today:
That Passes All Understanding
Denise Levertov
An awe so quiet
I don't know when it began.
A gratitude
had begun
to sing in me.
Was there
some moment
dividing
song from no song?
When does dewfall begin?
When does night
fold its arms over our hearts
to cherish them?
When is daybreak?
From Oblique Prayers, New Directions, New York, 1984, p. 85
11-27-13 - Food and Family
Ask most Americans what they associate with Thanksgiving, and most will answer, “Food and family.” Some might add, “And stress.” This is one holiday when making the food sometimes causes stress, which we then seek to relieve by eating too much food – a nice little cycle that leads nowhere good (throw in too much alcohol, and things really get interesting…)
Back when I was planning alternative worship every week, I wrote a lot of sermon dramas. One of the most fun – and elaborate – was at Thanksgiving time one year, called “The Martha Show.” It depicted a TV cooking show featuring a famous Martha. Not Martha of Westport, though the character shared many of her attributes. This one was Martha of Bethany, whose dinner party for Jesus got her so stressed out she became royally ticked off at her sister for not helping. (Sound like a Thanksgiving scene you’ve seen?)
And in the midst of prepping for her Thanksgiving show, an unexpected guest arrives early. Not what our Martha wanted. She wanted to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus, not with Jesus. And she wants her sister to help, damn it! But Mary recognizes that when this guest comes to dinner, you need to stop what you’re doing and receive the gifts he brings.
We can get so busy preparing for Thanksgiving that we barely appreciate the time with our loved ones when it arrives. Same thing, in a broader way, can happen during Advent. In a season meant to help us prepare to receive the gift of Christ in our lives, we sometimes get so busy preparing we miss the fact that he’s already showed up.
Jesus’ words to Martha in the gospel story are simple and pointed: “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
If you are happy and at peace today, hallelujah – spread some of that peace to someone stressed.
And if you’re worrying and fretting about anything today, stop and imagine Jesus walking into whatever place you’re in, and saying, “Hey, hey, you are worried and fretting. You don’t need to. You have everything you need – I’m here.” Try that on, in prayer, in your imagination today. One of God’s promises is peace when we pray, and presence, and power.
Wherever you’re spending Thanksgiving this year, and whoever you’re spending it with, invite Jesus to the table. That’s kind of what it means to say grace – to invoke his holy presence. See if it’s different being aware of him there.
And don’t forget to pass him the stuffing – they didn’t have that in Judea back in the day…
Back when I was planning alternative worship every week, I wrote a lot of sermon dramas. One of the most fun – and elaborate – was at Thanksgiving time one year, called “The Martha Show.” It depicted a TV cooking show featuring a famous Martha. Not Martha of Westport, though the character shared many of her attributes. This one was Martha of Bethany, whose dinner party for Jesus got her so stressed out she became royally ticked off at her sister for not helping. (Sound like a Thanksgiving scene you’ve seen?)
And in the midst of prepping for her Thanksgiving show, an unexpected guest arrives early. Not what our Martha wanted. She wanted to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus, not with Jesus. And she wants her sister to help, damn it! But Mary recognizes that when this guest comes to dinner, you need to stop what you’re doing and receive the gifts he brings.
We can get so busy preparing for Thanksgiving that we barely appreciate the time with our loved ones when it arrives. Same thing, in a broader way, can happen during Advent. In a season meant to help us prepare to receive the gift of Christ in our lives, we sometimes get so busy preparing we miss the fact that he’s already showed up.
Jesus’ words to Martha in the gospel story are simple and pointed: “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
If you are happy and at peace today, hallelujah – spread some of that peace to someone stressed.
And if you’re worrying and fretting about anything today, stop and imagine Jesus walking into whatever place you’re in, and saying, “Hey, hey, you are worried and fretting. You don’t need to. You have everything you need – I’m here.” Try that on, in prayer, in your imagination today. One of God’s promises is peace when we pray, and presence, and power.
Wherever you’re spending Thanksgiving this year, and whoever you’re spending it with, invite Jesus to the table. That’s kind of what it means to say grace – to invoke his holy presence. See if it’s different being aware of him there.
And don’t forget to pass him the stuffing – they didn’t have that in Judea back in the day…
11-26-13 - Preemptive Gratitude
It’s Tuesday. What are you thankful for?
“But we don’t have to be thankful till Thursday…,” you might be thinking.
I did. But I like to be ahead of the curve, so why not start the thankfulness part of Thanksgiving a few days ahead? Then we’ll be all warmed up when the Day comes around.
I’m only half-joking… it occurred to me that thankfulness can be a great antidote to stress. If we’re devoting at least part of our attention to awareness of what we’re grateful for, there’s that much less space available to worry about what we’ve done, not done, or don’t know when we’ll get done.
So today, as you wander a grocery store – give thanks for all the food and all the people who got it there, and all the people who work there, and the resources to buy it…
Or if you’re cooking, you might give thanks for the ingredients, the recipes and where they came from, other meals like this; the people who will be gathering around the table… what else?
Or if you’re packing, give thanks for the clothing and the circumstances by which you came to own those things, when you’ve worn it before… what else?
Or if you’re cleaning – give thanks for the rooms and who lives in them and the blessings they’ve hosted; and if you’re preparing to see family, there are some thank yous…
Or if you’re traveling, give thanks for the technology that makes it possible to get from here to there.. and if getting from here to there ends up taking longer than we hoped or planned, I guess we’ll have that much more time to think of things to be grateful for.
Well, I don’t have to tell you how to be grateful! You’re probably better at it than I am. The “gratitude as stress reducer” might just catch on, though… it was a new thought to me.
As soon as I feel a stressful thought coming on, I’m going to acknowledge it, and then chase it with a grateful one. Let you know how I do!
“But we don’t have to be thankful till Thursday…,” you might be thinking.
I did. But I like to be ahead of the curve, so why not start the thankfulness part of Thanksgiving a few days ahead? Then we’ll be all warmed up when the Day comes around.
I’m only half-joking… it occurred to me that thankfulness can be a great antidote to stress. If we’re devoting at least part of our attention to awareness of what we’re grateful for, there’s that much less space available to worry about what we’ve done, not done, or don’t know when we’ll get done.
So today, as you wander a grocery store – give thanks for all the food and all the people who got it there, and all the people who work there, and the resources to buy it…
Or if you’re cooking, you might give thanks for the ingredients, the recipes and where they came from, other meals like this; the people who will be gathering around the table… what else?
Or if you’re packing, give thanks for the clothing and the circumstances by which you came to own those things, when you’ve worn it before… what else?
Or if you’re cleaning – give thanks for the rooms and who lives in them and the blessings they’ve hosted; and if you’re preparing to see family, there are some thank yous…
Or if you’re traveling, give thanks for the technology that makes it possible to get from here to there.. and if getting from here to there ends up taking longer than we hoped or planned, I guess we’ll have that much more time to think of things to be grateful for.
Well, I don’t have to tell you how to be grateful! You’re probably better at it than I am. The “gratitude as stress reducer” might just catch on, though… it was a new thought to me.
As soon as I feel a stressful thought coming on, I’m going to acknowledge it, and then chase it with a grateful one. Let you know how I do!
10-9-13 - Thank You
One in ten. Not a bad percentage – one in ten could look past the amazing wonder of this gift, to praise the Giver: “And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.”
In an age when we can measure rates of return on everything from email “opens” to dividend yields, maybe God says, “Ten percent ain’t bad…”
And it’s not just any “one in ten” – this one is a double outcast, a leper and a Samaritan. In Gospel stories about Samaritans who “get it,” the writers always seem to point out their ethnicity, like, “Can you believe it?” It's like when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the Oscars – wasn’t enough that they were great actors, they were great black actors, winning top awards. Can you imagine?
The other nine presumably couldn’t wait to get to the temple, be certified as clean and back to their homes, families, lives. This one turns back, praising God loudly. He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks him. He is exuberant, extravagant in his praise and thanksgiving.
The messages of this story run much deeper than “Don’t forget to say thank you…,” but that is one. When we say thank you, it multiplies the gift we have received. The giver is affirmed for their generosity, and we in a sense receive the gift more fully as we make our delight known. I don’t know if anyone has tested the chemical or neurological effects of gratitude, but I’d bet there are some.
Gratitude is the ground for joy. It turns our focus outward. When we cultivate it as a habit, it can change our interior landscape and make the people around us feel appreciated. So let’s practice, if we’re not already intentional about it:
What gift of God do you want to say “thank you” for today?
What person close to you would you like to thank? Maybe write a note or buy a gift for?
What stranger would you like to thank today? What if we all made a point of telling our barristas or dry cleaners or check-out clerks or IT fixers or accountants, “I really appreciate the job you do – it makes my life better.” Think how a wave of gratitude could ripple around the world in a matter of hours. Let’s start a Facebook trend!
While you’re at it, spend a little time thanking yourself for taking the time to talk to God, to listen, to notice God’s gifts around you. Be extravagant in giving thanks.
You can even throw yourself at Jesus’ feet, like a runner sliding into Home…
In an age when we can measure rates of return on everything from email “opens” to dividend yields, maybe God says, “Ten percent ain’t bad…”
And it’s not just any “one in ten” – this one is a double outcast, a leper and a Samaritan. In Gospel stories about Samaritans who “get it,” the writers always seem to point out their ethnicity, like, “Can you believe it?” It's like when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the Oscars – wasn’t enough that they were great actors, they were great black actors, winning top awards. Can you imagine?
The other nine presumably couldn’t wait to get to the temple, be certified as clean and back to their homes, families, lives. This one turns back, praising God loudly. He throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks him. He is exuberant, extravagant in his praise and thanksgiving.
The messages of this story run much deeper than “Don’t forget to say thank you…,” but that is one. When we say thank you, it multiplies the gift we have received. The giver is affirmed for their generosity, and we in a sense receive the gift more fully as we make our delight known. I don’t know if anyone has tested the chemical or neurological effects of gratitude, but I’d bet there are some.
Gratitude is the ground for joy. It turns our focus outward. When we cultivate it as a habit, it can change our interior landscape and make the people around us feel appreciated. So let’s practice, if we’re not already intentional about it:
What gift of God do you want to say “thank you” for today?
What person close to you would you like to thank? Maybe write a note or buy a gift for?
What stranger would you like to thank today? What if we all made a point of telling our barristas or dry cleaners or check-out clerks or IT fixers or accountants, “I really appreciate the job you do – it makes my life better.” Think how a wave of gratitude could ripple around the world in a matter of hours. Let’s start a Facebook trend!
While you’re at it, spend a little time thanking yourself for taking the time to talk to God, to listen, to notice God’s gifts around you. Be extravagant in giving thanks.
You can even throw yourself at Jesus’ feet, like a runner sliding into Home…
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