Category: Posts

Where do we get gratitude?

Today at Lakewood Church is The BIG Event: Sharing the Harvest, a celebration of gratitude and generosity. In these weeks leading up to The BIG Event, we have been exploring many facets of gratitude. A gratitude journal was provided to encourage thinking about thankfulness.

The spiritual discipline of gratitude is life shaping, life altering, and life sustaining. Gratitude gives us a lens though which to see our lives. Gratitude inspires generosity. Gratitude is like a microscope that shows us what is really there in our lives. And it is like a telescope that reveals to us where we really are in the scope of things. Gratitude shapes our ideals, our behaviors, and our reality. I think we can see from these weeks of reflection the power of gratitude to inform our worldview, our self concept, and our reality. Gratitude gives us an orientation of generosity and abundance.

And where do we learn gratitude? Not in school. Not from society. From society we are more likely to learn greed. We learn gratitude in church. In church we are taught appreciation, awe, and our capacity for generosity based on gratitude for all that has been given to us by God however we may image or conceive of God.

We may be part of other groups and organizations like card clubs, political parties, music groups, environmental organizations, service clubs, book clubs, sports teams, and these experiences may be meaningful and enriching. But it is the church which forms and shapes us as people of gratitude. And gratitude invites us to celebrate the abundance of life and to be generous.

So today we give thanks for the church! We celebrate the church. We offer our generous support of the church. We share our bountiful harvest!

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16   

Jesus

The BIG Event is almost here. On Sunday there will be a festive celebration at church of all that we are grateful for. And as part of that celebration, we will choose to share the harvest with one another and the world by offering our financial support for the ministry of the church in the coming year. It will be an exciting morning!

And behind it all, really, is Jesus. Jesus is our window to Divine Love. He is our image of a fully loving human being. His stories and teachings convey how human life can be lived to the fullest, with meaning, purpose, and wonder. Jesus invites us to find our highest good not in accumulating wealth or power or privilege. Not in fame or comfort. But Jesus calls us to find our highest good in service and solidarity with those who suffering.

Jesus’ life and death show us what it means to love with generosity and abandon. To love truly. Not counting the cost even when the cost is your very life. That is why we are here on earth – to love. Ourselves. The Creation. Each other. Our neighbors. Our enemies. Beauty. Life itself. This moment. The great beyond. The mystery. The wonder. Jesus takes none of it for granted. He is enchanted by all of it and tries to show us how to live in full awareness. And for all of his appreciation and engagement with life, he accepts death, he is not afraid of death. The big problem is not dying, but not fully loving and living in every moment, with every action, in every circumstance. He shows us how to do that: to be fully human. And for that, I am grateful!

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Cultivating Change

While I was in California recently, I needed exact change for a bus.  I looked for a business nearby to get change.  There was a coffee shop.  The clerk said that she was not allowed to open the register to give change but she herself was a bus rider, so she got out her purse and made change for me from her own personal money.  How kind is that!

The cost of the bus was $2.25, so I had three quarters left.  Someone else came to the bus stop and she did not have exact change either.  She had two dollars but no quarters.  I offered to give her one of the quarters I had left.  She didn’t want to just take the quarter from me.  She was very hesitant.  Then I told her about the clerk giving me change from her own money.  It was really the clerk’s kindness and generosity that produced the quarters.  So, the fellow bus rider accepted the quarter – with a caveat.  She said that she would make it a point to help someone else when the opportunity came up.  

Gratitude produces generosity which produces more gratitude which produces more generosity and on it goes.  Or is it generosity that produces gratitude which produces more generosity which leads to more gratitude?  All I know is that gratitude and generosity go together.  And cultivating the spiritual discipline of gratitude makes the world a better place and makes us better people.  

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16   

People I don’t like

Maybe it’s not Christian to not like someone.  But to be honest, there are people I just don’t like.  It doesn’t happen often.  And it’s not enough to keep me from doing what I want to do and being who I am trying to be.  I can usually overcome my negative feelings, but sometimes there are people that I just don’t like.  

And I am grateful for these people.  On reflection, I find that if I am open to it, I can learn a lot from people I don’t like.  Why don’t I like someone?  Figuring that out can tell me something about myself and my values and concerns.  Why is this person annoying to me?  What is it about their behavior?  Exploring these questions helps me discover more about who I am and what makes me tick.  

Then there is the idea that what we don’t like in someone else is usually something that we don’t like in ourselves.  So, when I don’t like someone, and I can figure out why, I may learn more about my myself and what I don’t like about myself.

Oh yes and something else about people I don’t like.  They help me to grow as a Christian.  Even if I don’t like someone, I still want treat them with dignity and kindness because that is who I want to be.  Dealing with someone I don’t like helps me to work on treating all people as precious children of God.  It’s a lot easier to do that when you like someone.  With someone we don’t like, it stretches us and helps us grow.

So, today I give thanks for people I don’t like.  

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  1 Thessalonians 5:16