Like many of you, I was not born thankful. Unfortunately, it’s not a genetic trait that can be passed on from generation to generation. It has to be taught, it is learned in many ways, and it isn’t something we can simply define and then apply. It has to grow in us and take shape from seed to fruit as we slowly begin to understand and shed light on what is truly important in life. Gratitude, is not an attitude that we pull out when it’s necessary, it’s not something we put on, it’s something that has to be planted in us. We must learn how to find it in ourselves to not be caught up in what we are missing, but to be steady in Whose we are.
I recently shared with our MOPS group about being thankful. As I thought about what to share the passage in Mark about the Rich Young Ruler immediately came to mind and I really didn’t know why. As I read through it though, I realized some truths about gratitude and contentment.
We all have a “one thing” that we find difficult to let go of. For the Rich Young Ruler that “one thing” was his wealth. He couldn’t let it go. For me, in my late teens and early twenties, it was my hard earned identity and the investments I had made in my talents. For some it’s a relationship, for others it’s a position or even a dream. We all have a “one thing” and we all treasure it somewhere deeper than we are accustomed to digging when it’s time to worship. Letting go of that “one thing” is typically a process, and is typically painful, but it is the crucial element in building a character of gratitude.
Christmas is one of those seasons where we struggle as parents, because we want to bless our kids, but we also want them to appreciate it. Watching your child open a gift that’s been thought over, searched for and purchased at a sacrifice loses a lot of it’s luster when he/she frowns and says, “but I wanted the wii U!”
How do we convince an increasingly satiated generation that Christmas has significance?
I don’t know.
I do know that it was layers and layers of truth that brought gratitude into my life in a greater capacity. I do know that contentment isn’t something to conquer, it’s something to run alongside. I do know that when we settle into the pace contentment is setting, we are offered many, many opportunities to live a life more abundant.
For me it was coming to the realization that my talents, abilities, integrity and general good attitude were not unique, needed or even all that awesome. I had to come to the end of what I thought made me special and ask a key question. The first one that came to mind at 18 years old floating in a sea of obscurity was, “who am I?” I quickly disregarded this as the voice of my mother echoed in my head “…that’s a selfish question.” What was the right question then? I wondered.
“Who is God?”
I would start there. Yes, I knew Him. I loved Him, I had known Him all my life and was even proud of my faithfulness to Him. I knew Him, but I didn’t know Him as He wished to be known. This was that moment in my little life, that I needed to seek Him on my own. Not as the God of my parents, the God of my home church or the God of my friends. I would start by asking Him to show me who He was to be in me.
In that process I had to leave behind my own god of self determination. I would learn to trust Him to be the God of every moment, the God of infinite love, the God of safety and security, the God who was my friend when no one else was and the God who had intentions for me that I could not even imagine. His Word came alive to me in new and inspiring ways. He taught me to see Him on rainy days as well as in the sunshine and He spoke to me slowly, purposefully and taught me how to know His voice even when there were seemingly hundreds of others begging for an ear.
As I grew in my knowledge of Him, my gratitude and contentment rose up alongside. Not because I learned about gratitude, but because I learned that there was nothing I could ever do, to deserve a God who loved me the way He does. In getting to know Him, I realized what an amazing and powerful, yet intimate God I serve.
Nothing will teach humility, like knowing God.
I let go of my desires to be something worth looking at, listening to or talking about and determined to put Him in the spotlight. What talent do I have that is not a gift from Him? What ability do I possess that He did not create? What genetic traits have I been blessed with that were not first offered as part of His image?
We all have a “one thing.” We all have the opportunity to make Christmas something different this year. What if we wrapped up our “one thing” and left that at His feet this year. What if Gratitude stemmed from laying down our desires and allowing Him to live fully in us?
I have one more question. If getting to know Him brings humility and humility brings gratitude that compels us to give Him glory and honor in everything we are and everything we do…
…what would He keep from us?
“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:3-5
He isn’t looking for a list of well accounted for blessings from us, to prove our gratitude, though that’s a good and healthy practice.
He’s looking for our trust.
He’s looking for the look of recognition in our eyes when we see Him face to face.
This Christmas, ponder the position He put himself in when He came to earth, and all that He accomplished from such a humble start. Later, He told us that we would do greater works than those He did.
I challenge myself and anyone else (and their kids) who wish to live out that kind of life, to start at the stable.
Start with humility,
let gratitude sing like a chorus of angels out of recognition of who He is,
and let honor shine like a star from no other direction than His smile over a soul that trusts Him.
Who knows what He will do in us!