"Gratitude will make your life better"

Gratitude is long believed to be good for healthy living. Psychologists, as well as theologians, say that if a person practices gratitude in daily living, he or she will more likely live a good life. Someone who looks at his/her situation of life as a “glass half full” rather than looking at that similar situation with a “glass half empty” will more likely be less anxious and have a more positive attitude toward whatever happens in his/her life.

For the Christian gratitude is a response to grace. Grace is God’s mercy for those who need forgiveness, or help, from God. Still, humanists who are atheists or agnostics, often affirm gratitude as a virtue. Gratitude for them is having a positive approach to other human beings. When Christians take these two approaches together gratitude is simply remembering to “love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind" and "to love our neighbor as ourselves." So, gratitude is putting love into action, showing that we are thankful to God and others for who we are and what we are able to do with our lives.

We are living in difficult times right now. What difference does it make if we are grateful in difficult times of life? First and foremost, it reminds us that as Christians we are undeserving of all that we have and therefore receive anything by God’s grace. A healthy perspective in life does not understand the words of the Declaration of Independence as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as a guarantee of happiness itself. Just like Americans, Christians are not promised happiness itself. Our lives may or may not be happy. We are promised a relationship to God and others by virtue of our baptism.

Second, in difficult times such as right now it is important to keep up hope. When we stop to count our blessings, we are letting the light shine through our present situation and are enabled to get a glimpse of the sunshine into relief from our difficulties: relief from the coronavirus, the coming of a vaccine for Covid-19, relief from political stress and a new day in politics, and a time when we can spend time with our loved ones on important days like Thanksgiving Day.

Third, being grateful is an affirmation of our faith in God when it is tested and can help us to grow our faith. This is well reflected in a well-known act in the face of difficulty by a recent U.S. President. Participating in a eulogy at the funeral of church leader and South Carolina state senator, Clemente Pinckney, President Barack Obama suddenly broke into singing "Amazing Grace." (https://youtu.be/7pbEBxQPWGc). By remembering to give thanks to God as he honored Rev. Pinckney, as well as others who died by gunfire at an African American church, he was reflecting his faith in God, as well as his faith in humankind. He was affirming the need, as the apostle Paul put it, “to give thanks in all circumstances.”

So, this Thanksgiving, if you are anxious about the growing threat of the coronavirus, the troubled state of politics in the U.S., or your own separation from loved ones, by all means use this time for gratitude: give thanks to God and your loved ones for being there for you in your life. It will make your life better. It may make all the difference in the world not only for you, but for someone else.