Watching thankfulness is a great spectator sport! It’s fun, touching and heartening, all at the same time. A smile that lights up a face ... a tear on a cheek ... a pause to absorb an expression of love ... arms thrown around a neck ... a squeal and a jump for joy. True thankfulness cannot be contained in our spirits alone, but always seeks physical release. Nor is it an obligation we begrudgingly dispatch, rather a natural response that pours forth from within us in both humility and joy.
When it comes right down to it, we are most grateful when we have received grace, an unexpected kindness. But we're not always thankful ...
One day as Jesus was heading into a village, ten lepers called out to him, asking for pity on their condition. At his instruction, they went to show themselves to the priests and, along the way, all of them were healed. Yet only one returned to throw himself at Jesus’ feet and give, in exchange, a precious gift of his own – praise and thanksgiving from his heart to his God, his healer. Surely, all ten men went home happy that day, but only one was thankful.
So Paul reminds us to be mindful of God's grace, as well, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).”
When it comes right down to it, we are most grateful when we have received grace, an unexpected kindness. But we're not always thankful ...
One day as Jesus was heading into a village, ten lepers called out to him, asking for pity on their condition. At his instruction, they went to show themselves to the priests and, along the way, all of them were healed. Yet only one returned to throw himself at Jesus’ feet and give, in exchange, a precious gift of his own – praise and thanksgiving from his heart to his God, his healer. Surely, all ten men went home happy that day, but only one was thankful.
So Paul reminds us to be mindful of God's grace, as well, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).”
Like the ten lepers, we have received grace. Like the one leper, may we give, in return, our all.
“What language shall I borrow
To thank thee, dearest friend,
For this thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make thee thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to thee.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
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