Sincere Gratitude Is Not Silent…

From an “Essay on History” comes this significant sentence: “One lesson, and only one, [that] history may be said to repeat with distinctness is this; that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run it is ill with the wicked….”

For this we are thankful. We are thankful for law, for moral law; for commandments, for the law of causes and consequences, without which we would not know what we could count on. We are thankful for families and friends, for the purpose of life, for the promise of everlasting life. We are thankful “for blessings we cannot measure, for books, music, art, and for the great inventions… for the laughter of little children… for the means of relieving human suffering… and increasing the enjoyment of life… for everything good and uplifting.”

We are thankful, as Dr. Thorndike has put it, that “In [good] men love is stronger than hate, friendship is stronger than selfishness, and gratitude is stronger than envy…. We are [thankful for] parents who have cared… for friends who give companionship… the community which protects, educates, and gives a chance to earn an honest living…. We [are thankful for] all decent people who keep the peace, do honest work, and pay their bills.”

Sincere gratitude should not always be silent. Sincere gratitude is something we should do something about. And having received so much, we should show gratitude by giving⎯by working, by taking responsibility, by caring for our children, by keeping the commandments, and by humbling ourselves before divine Providence, by being grateful for all that God has given.

As Shakespeare said it: “Let never day or night unhallow’d pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done.”