The Gift of Gratitude

One doesn’t have to live very long before he becomes aware of the pleasure of doing things for appreciative people and the disappointment of doing things for people who seem to lack a sincere sense of appreciation or who somehow fail to show it. This is true in all the relationships of life⎯of man to man, of friend to friend, and within the family circle.

In almost every situation there are some who serve and some who are on the receiving side. There are some who sit and have meals placed before them, and dishes done, and clothes cleaned and put in place, and a thousand other such services. And among the ingredients that keep such labor from becoming unendurable drudgery are love and gratitude. Gratitude lubricates labor and makes every chore, every task, a satisfying service. Gratitude among men is an absolute essential⎯and so is gratitude to God.

Whether we think we have much or little, we have cause to give thanks for everything that is ours⎯for the food we eat, for friends and freedom, for the warmth we feel from the sun, for the companionship of people, for the leaves that fall and again come forth, for the rain that filters through the soil, for the beauty and providence of the earth⎯for the very air we breathe; for the very life we live.

And such should be our gratitude, as we look out at each new day, that we offer fervent thankfulness for the privilege of living another day of life. And well might we look at every cherished thing in life as if it were ours only once⎯as if we had this day alone to live, this one hour of sweet association with those we love. But when so much of such things we have had, likely we let them become commonplace and look at them as if they had just happened, instead of coming to us as the special favor of a loving and provident Father.

There is an ancient citation that says: “He that receives a gift with gratitude repays the first installment on his debt.”

Thank God for what to us He has given⎯for all the goodness that is ours. And thank God for gratitude, which in part repays the gift and helps to hallow every service that is given.