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Were someone to give you a
gift of great worth, wouldn't you immediately show
your gratitude? What if every moment of every day,
you were provided a gift of great worth? How would
you express your thanks? Or would the receiving
become so routine, that appreciation disappeared
along with awareness of the magnitude of the
gift?
That's pretty much the
human condition. We are so conditioned to God's
moment-by-moment largesse, his excruciatingly
gracious provision, that we often neglect to show
thanks adequately. Perhaps we do not feel that we
can offer adequate thanks. Or, the marketplace so
stridently proclaims that we always need more,
that we don’t recognize that God provides all that
we need.
And it is not God who
suffers from our oversight. It is we who suffer as
we miss the joyful acknowledgement of God's
fulfilling our needs. We do not know we are
fulfilled because the marketplace so loudly and
incessantly insists that we cannot be fulfilled.
Yet, we can claim our joy by giving and by
acknowledging God’s gifting.
The General Thanksgiving,
on page 101 of the Book of Common Prayer, offers:
"And we pray, give us such an awareness of your
mercies, that with truly and thankful hearts we
may show forth your praise, not only with our
lips, but in our lives" What a seemingly odd thing
to pray for. But, it affirms the understanding
that we easily forget how greatly God provides for
us.
Consider some very basic things: the air you
breath, sunlight, the water you drink. Those alone
are worthy of unending thanksgiving and praise.
Yet they are so constant and so abundant that we
tend to not recognize them, along with many other
things, as gifts from God.
Here’s
a thought to add some meaning to your Thanksgiving
Day and to experience some of the joy of
recognizing how richly God has graced you. Set
aside some time this Thanksgiving Day to meditate
on the General Thanksgiving and the Litany of
Thanksgiving, both on page 836 of the Book of
Common Prayer. Together, they provide a wonderful
inventory of God's gracious provision. Consider
how great the love that provides such abundance.
And then consider, how you will respond… not only
with your lips but in your life? |
