A Year of Choices…
By Barbara Dahlgren from Barbara’s Banter at www.barbdahlgren.com
Legend says that God sent two angles with baskets to earth to gather the prayers of humans. The first angel was to fill a basket with the requests, wants, and desires of people. The other was to gather prayers of thanksgiving. When they returned to God, one angel’s basket was heaped high, running over with the countless petitions of men and women. The other angel had searched diligently but alas, returned with an almost empty basket. Are we a thankless society?
Some say we are, especially in the United States. It’s hard to be thankful living in a land of plenty. Most of us take for granted having decent food to eat, clean water to drink, shelter from storms, and warm clothing in the winter. Basics? Yes! But these are basics many people live without.
Thanklessness is nothing new. Jesus encountered it during biblical times. Luke 17 gives the account of Jesus stopping outside a village on his way to Jerusalem. There He was met by ten lepers pleading for healing. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Jesus did have mercy and healed them.
Leprosy was a dreaded, incurable disease that affected the skin causing disfigurement. The skin would dry up and rot. Fingers, toes, ears, and limbs would waste away and fall off. Lepers lived a life of continual discomfort and misery. Because the disease was contagious, lepers were not allowed in the city. They were dependent on charity outside the gate or isolated and banished to colonies.
Imagine the gift Jesus gave these lepers by healing them. They were no longer shunned by society. Their lives were restored. Their joy must have been overwhelming. However, only one returned to Jesus to thank him for what he had done. Jesus noted this ingratitude in Luke 17:17. “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?”
If people are not thankful for the big things that happen in their lives, it’s hard to imagine them being thankful for simple, everyday blessings.
In Old Testament times, being thankful was so important that certain Levites were appointed to give continual praise and thanks to God. (1 Chronicles 16: 4) Jesus himself set us an example of thankfulness. (Matthew 11:25, 26:7; John 11:41) In all things, we need to be thankful. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) And we need to recognize that blessings come from God. (James 1:17)
Consider this…The Bible tells us that those who aren’t thankful are very, very foolish. (Romans 1:21-22)
When angels in disguise come to fill their baskets at our doors, we shouldn’t be afraid to make our requests known to God, but always with thanksgiving. (Philippians 4:6) One basket should not outweigh the other in our lives. It is good to give thanks unto the Lord. (Psalm 92:1)
Suggestions for practicing this choice…
- Keep a daily gratitude journal.
- If you don’t like journaling keep a running list of three things you are thankful for each day. Try not to repeat anything.
- Say, “Thank you” to each and every person who does something for you. Everyone! Even thank the waiter who takes your order or the guy who bags your groceries. Sure they are getting paid to do it, but a “thank you” from you can make their jobs a little more tolerable.
- Try a little positive meditation. Each night when you snuggle into bed don’t mentally rehash all the bad things that happened that day, focus on everything that went right – no matter how small. Even in the worst of circumstances there is always something we can be thankful for.
- For a whole week instead of “gimme, gimme, gimme” prayers, ask God to help you remember all the wonderful things He’s done for you in the past and thank him. One of the sweetest prayers God can hear from your lips is a heartfelt, “Thank You, Lord!”
