What may I give to the Lord for all the good things that he has done for me? I will take the cup of salvation, and give praise to the name of the Lord. I will make the offering of my oath to the Lord, even before all his people. -Psalm 116:12-14 (Basic English translation)

As I watch my students eat lunch in the high school cafeteria, I sadly witness a great deal of waste. It would not be unusual for a boy to pull out an apple his mother packed for him, take a bite or two out of it, and throw the rest away. It brings to mind a story of an American missionary moving to a poor part of Central America. She brought an apple on the flight, but never got around to eating it. That afternoon, while unpacking in her new home, a neighborhood girl noticed the big beautiful apple in her bag. The missionary realized that the little girl was fascinated by the apple, so she gave it to her. The girl reverently held the apple in both of her hands and slowly walked out of the room, never taking her wonder-filled eyes off her gift. The missionary presumed that the girl went off somewhere to eat it, but she found out later that the girl took it back home, diced it, and walked around the impoverished neighborhood, giving everyone a taste of this rare and precious gift.

Gratitude is the key to a virtuous life. Conversely, all sin boils down to ingratitude to an abuse or neglect of God’s gifts. If I live in gratitude for some particular gift God has given me if I uphold it as a sacred object to be treated with reverence then I will not misuse that gift. A great deal of my prayer life, then, should be that of thanking and praising God for his many gifts. I might even want to zero in on the gifts I have abused lately and praise God for them especially. For example, if I am routinely hard on my spouse, this problem might be an indication that I am not appreciating the gift he has been in my life. The more I nurture and develop a habit of thanking God for the gift of my husband, the less inclined I will be to abuse him with my words and actions. If my sin is overeating, then, chances are, I need to praise God for the sacred vessel of my own body. My gratitude will lead me to do all that I can to keep this great gift in mint condition.

Many times Christians slip into a Pelagian mindset wherein we believe that we have to earn our way into heaven. Fear of eternal damnation, then, becomes my motivation to live virtuously. But Jesus, through the Gospels and through church teaching, tells us that heaven is a free gift from God. We could never possibly earn such a gift-it must come free of charge. If we have truly accepted this unearned salvation, then we live our Christian lives not out of fear but as a grateful response to God’s unconditional love. How much holier would our lives be if we lived in gratitude to God rather than in fear of him?

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

1 SAMUEL 2:1-10: Hannah’s song

PSALM 104: Praise the Lord, O my soul

PSALM 116: What return shall I make for the good he has done for me?

PSALM 118: You are my God, I will give thanks to you; I will extol you

PSALM 149:1-5: Praise his name with dancing, making melody to him

DANIEL 3:52-90: All things bless the Lord

LUKE 1:26-56: Mary’s song of gratitude

LUKE 7:36-50: The forgiven woman

LUKE 17:11-19: The grateful leper

1 CORINTHIANS 1:4-9: You are enriched in every way

2 CORINTHIANS 9:6-15: God loves a cheerful giver

PHILIPPIANS 1:3-26: Paul is grateful for his imprisonment

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-13: Rejoice in the Lord, always

COLOSSIANS 3:12-17: Give thanks to God

REVELATION 19:5-9: Alleluia! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns

PRAYER POINTERS

On a sheet of paper, or perhaps in my journal, I make a graffiti page of random gifts God has given me. I sit prayerfully and simply allow one gift after another to come to mind, and I jot down each one, praising God for the gift.

I zero in on the one gift for which I am most grateful at this moment. It could be the simplest and most trivial of them all. I use that one gift as the springboard of my praise for all that God has done for me.

I reflect on why it is that I do good acts. Is it out of obligation? Fear of God? Or is it grateful response to God’s goodness?

I reflect on Psalm 116. I prayerfully consider what would be a grateful response to God for all the good that God has given me. If I feel called to do so, I make a vow to God to respond to his love in some particular and concrete way.

Awe, Content, Evening, Joyful, Proud, Can’t Wait

WORDS TO TAKE WITH YOU

Life is a banquet, and most of the poor fools of the world are starving.

-Auntie Mame (paraphrased)