We celebrate the tree that stretches to the sky, but it is the ground that we should ultimately thank. ~Becky Chambers, To Be Taught, if Fortunate
I haven't written for a bit of time. I was starting to wonder if this pursuit was worth it, to write a passage twice a week. I was wondering if I might switch to something shorter and daily. I still wonder that, but this morning, whether to encourage me to continue in my previous pursuit or because I needed the message I do not know, I received a message fairly loud and clear: the inextricable relationship between humility and gratitude. You cannot have one without the other.
In a burst of pride I was eager to find where I had written on this before, thinking, "I've probably written about this several times", and I may have written about it somewhere once or twice, but in the feed that is the stuff that comes from the overflow of my life I found nothing for the search terms "gratitude" or "thankful". I found some hits for the term "thank", and I bet I would have found some for "grateful", but nothing for the past tense experiential form of the words.
As I consider humility and gratitude I wonder about where one starts and the other picks up. Do I start with humility and find myself grateful, or do I start with gratefulness and find humility? As I sit and ponder, it seems to me that both begin in reflection. I consider myself in the context of, well, everything, and I find myself to be a very small thing. Nonetheless, I find I am also grateful for the life afforded to me, both in material things and all of the spiritual wealth, as well. Actually, I am overwhelmed with gratitude when I consider the abounding life given to little old me.
But, considering it further, this abounding life is not supposed to be something special for a select few. So many in the world have so little, and are miserable. Their lives suck. And, quite simply, thankfully, I say to myself, it is not my problem. I can maintain blissful abundance, and regret the pitiful lack of some of my fellow humans. After all, it's not so many of them, right?
There is a cross section of humanity worth examining. It is not true that if you are poor and a product of all kinds of lack that you have to be miserable and thankless. There are a portion of the population that maintains an exuberance, a zest, in the face of all kinds of ill. It is a very small contingency, but it is worth investigating them to see what is it? Of course, the opposite is also true, there a miserable bunch who have all the wealth in the world. Curiosity should pursue them as well. Putting the two together you find that with people, something is missing... and, that something may be found!
The older I get I find myself questioning the Gospel more. Is it really true? Did it all really happen? Or do I cling to idealism the way that I always do? The answer, I believe, to both is yes!
I refer intellectually often to the cloud of witnesses revered in Hebrews 12:1. But to move beyond idealism, the Gospel has to make its way into your bones. Through trial and travail, and gritted teeth surprised by mercy... surprised by joy!... we find the Gospel to be true.
So, what has the impoverished joy-man found that the miserable rich-man lacks? Gratitude in the face of misery, which leads to humility and ultimately to joy. He thinks to himself, I am not worthy of anything, but here I have my life and my meager existence. It is enough, and I am thankful.
Heavenly Father, it is easy to idealize the truth, and the beauty that Jesus left for us to behold. It is much more challenging to live out that truth. I build cathedrals and monuments of the intellectualism of it, but my life might be more like a straw hut not resistant to the storms that rage. Something will have our souls! My emotions leave me windblown, tossed to and fro. I need an anchor. In reality, let that be You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Comments
Post a Comment