Real Life Disciples: Giving thanks

This time of year stirs up gratitude for most of us. As Thanksgiving approaches, many are looking back over the past year, and reminiscing the blessings received. I know this year I have many things I am grateful for. It’s our second Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. Last year, we were so new, we were still unpacking boxes. This year feels much more settled, and it has been a year filled with new friendships and blessings both at home and at work.

There are two great principles for discipleship we can discuss during this time of Thanksgiving.

The first is that one of the key earmarks of a disciple is joy, and the root of this kind of joy is gratitude. Spiritual writers often encourage one to “stir up” gratitude in their heart as they enter into prayer.

The reason for this is because gratitude is considered one of the master effects in the spiritual life, its contrast being fear. Fear and gratitude are the master effects primarily because of their roots in the human heart. Fear is often rooted in pain, some woundedness or experience that leaves one reeling away in an avoidance of more pain. But, gratitude is rooted instead in experiences of love.

Gratitude in the heart leads one to rest in security, which is a critical disposition for discipleship. The joy of a disciple, when rooted in this kind of gratitude, is unflinching. We hear about it all through the New Testament. Not even trials and persecution can take away this kind of joy (James 1:2, Acts 5:41). Principle No. 1 - stirring up gratitude is one way to dramatically increase that kind of joy in your heart!

The second principle is that gratitude is impossible without memory. It’s hard to be grateful for what you don’t remember. There is a great Scriptural backdrop for this in the Gospel of Luke. In Ch. 17, Jesus heals 10 lepers. One of them, a Samaritan, is the only one to return to Jesus to give thanks.

Jesus asked, “Were not all 10 cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18). You can call it bad memory or just forgetting to so thank you, but either way the other nine lepers were the pones that actually lost out. Going back to show gratitude was an entry point into relationship.

As disciples, this is a critical principle for us. We need to remember the things that God does in our lives. And, we need to express our gratitude for those things, write them down even, and store up the treasure of them over the course of our lives.

For me, it has been the active remembering that has gotten me through the stretches in my life when it seemed like God wasn’t doing anything – and those times will come. Whenever I am in one of those times, I have a lot of memories stored up that keep me rooted in God’s goodness and provision. It helps me always remember that life is a marathon, not a sprint. And, my experience of life’s events always has to be taken in the context of the full picture, not the short time frame I am currently in.

In his Apostolic Exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis exhorts us, “The joy of evangelizing always arises from grateful remembrance: it is a grace that we constantly need to implore. The apostles never forgot the moment when Jesus touched their hearts: ‘It was about four o’clock in the afternoon’ (Jn 1:39). Together with Jesus, this remembrance makes present to us ‘a great cloud of witnesses’ (Heb 12:1), some of whom, as believers, we recall with great joy: ‘Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the Word of God’ (Heb 13:7). Some of them were ordinary people who were close to us and introduced us to the life of faith: ‘I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice’ (2 Tim 1:5). The believer is essentially ‘one who remembers’” (Evangelium Gaudium, 13).

As Thanksgiving approaches, make this a time of remembrance. Take time over the holiday break to call to mind the good things God has done for you and for your family. And, be like that Samaritan leper – go back to Jesus and say thank you!

What are you grateful for? How has God been a part of your life this past year? How has He loved you and your family? How has He provided for you? And, if you are going through one of those rough stretches, be encouraged! God’s love and provision never go away. God is unchanging. Hardship, tragedy, suffering – are all a result of the fall and our human brokenness.

God deeply desires to love us even in those hard times. If that is your reality this Thanksgiving, look back to another time in your life when God’s care and provision were more apparent and stir up gratitude. It will help you persevere through the time you are in.

May we all have the grace to be fruitful disciples – rooted in gratitude, and full of joy. That kind of deep joy isn’t something we have to drum up on our own. The source of true joy is Jesus himself.

“These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11). Happy Thanksgiving!