Gratitude!!!

"To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us -- and He has given us everything." (Thomas Merton)

I have noticed that those who are not grateful soon become complainers and critical of everyone and everything. True gratitude and hypocrisy cannot exist together. They are totally incompatible. Gratitude of itself makes us sincere -- or if it does not, then it is not true gratitude. Gratitude is more than a mental exercise, or a formula. We cannot merely make mental notes of things which God has done for us and then perfunctorily thank Him for favors received.

Every breath we draw is a gift of His Love, every moment of existence is a grace. Gratitude takes nothing for granted, it is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to a new wonder and to praise the goodness of God. A grateful man knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that makes all the difference in living.

Gratitude is the basis of all "celebration." And ungratefulness is the basis of all "criticism." What we are thankful for we will celebrate, thus the center of all Christian worship is the "Great Thanksgiving" -- the "Lord's Supper" -- "The Eucharist!"

As we gather at the "table of the Lord" we are grateful for the very provision of life that God has provided and continues to give us every moment of every day and night. Gratitude becomes our doorway into the very Life of God.

More latter......