How did you express your thanks this past weekend?

Did you enjoy time with family and friends? A delicious feast of roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and other accompaniments (or tamales, rice, and elote)?

Did you express that gratitude, or were you like “the other nine” lepers who were healed by Jesus, but didn’t return to thank Him (story later)?

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How Do We Want to Live?

As you may know, this has been a difficult year for both Don and me physically. Surgeries, falls, blood clots…  I could easily become a magnet for the negative.

But that’s not how I want to live. I want to live in gratitude for all God has allowed in my life, both good and difficult, because He has a purpose and plan that I can trust.

• A relationship with Jesus Christ, through faith, which promises me guidance, peace, and Presence here on earth, and an eternity in the presence of the God of the universe.
• A wonderful, loving husband who goes out of his way to make life easier and more pleasant for me, even though he is twenty-three years my senior.
• God’s presence during the illness and death of my first husband, Jerry, and His guidance as I began to walk a new journey, alone until I met and fell in love with Don.
• A country where we are still free to worship, despite attacks on our faith. Many throughout the world do not have that freedom and are, in fact, being killed for their faith.

Benefits of Gratitude

Dr. Robert Emmons, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UC Davis, has studied the benefits of gratitude. He performed a ten-week experiment with three groups of individuals.

• The first group was to write five things each week for which they were grateful;
• The second, five hassles they faced that week;
• And the third, five things that impacted them each week.

He found that those who focused on gratitude had better health, were happier, and slept better than the other two groups.

My research has shown that grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism, and that the practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness.

—Dr. Robert Emmons

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Gratitude Begets Gratitude

Emmons reinforces truths found in the Bible.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

—Psalm 107:1, ESV

Gratitude magnifies our positive emotions, which can wear off quickly if not reinforced. When our attitude is focused on thanksgiving, we see more for which to be thankful. For example, when I have a grateful heart, I see more of the autumn colors around me; hear the birdsong more clearly; recognize the ways my husband loves me more quickly.

Our human nature tends to attract the negative.

“Oh, that hurt me.”

“My back hurts.”

“There’s too much to do.”

With these thoughts we focus on what’s wrong, or pressuring us, rather than on all that’s right.

All the Good I Have is a Gift

What do you have that you did not receive?

—I Corinthians 4:7b (NLT)

Emmons understands this when he says:

Living gratefully begins with affirming the good and recognizing its sources. It is the understanding that life owes me nothing and all the good I have is a gift, accompanied by an awareness that nothing can be taken for granted. (italics mine)

― Robert Emmons, The Little Book of Gratitude: Create a life of happiness and wellbeing by giving thanks

I can’t run. My legs weren’t built for that. And I have blood clots that aren’t disappearing, although they are less concentrated than they were a few months ago. I can focus on that; or I can delight in the truth that I have legs that still carry me around the house, to special events, to visit others, to travel. As we feel and express thankfulness, we enhance our own lives as well as others’, and we honor God.

Where are the Other Nine?

As Jesus traveled to Jerusalem one day, ten lepers stood at a distance and cried out, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

In that culture, lepers were anathema. They couldn’t socialize with their families but lived apart from the community. Approaching a group, they were required to call out “Unclean, unclean.”

Can you imagine, not only the suffering of losing feeling in limbs, facial muscles, etc., but in also being isolated and feared as pariahs?

Jesus responded. He told them to “Go, show yourselves to the priests” (who had to declare them healed before they could re-enter society). And as they went, they were healed.

One saw that he was clean—no more discolored, numb skin patches; no nodules or lumps on his face or earlobes. No more painless ulcers on his feet. He ran back to Jesus to praise and thank God.

But why did only one return to give thanks? Jesus asked, “Where are the other nine?”

Did they not recognize their need to be grateful? (See Luke 17:11-17) Pastor Rene Schlaepfer said gratitude is more than an emotion; it is something you do or express.

Gratitude Blocks Toxic Emotions

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Gratitude strengthens social ties that build self-worth, as we recognize and acknowledge contributions others have made to who we have become. That must certainly have been true of this leper who spoke his gratitude to Jesus.

I like Emmons’ emphasis that gratitude blocks toxic emotions like envy, resentment, regret, and even depression. The practice of thankfulness also makes us more stress-resilient and gives us a better ability to fight the impacts of trauma, PTSD, and anxiety. It gives us perspective.

My nephew and niece spent several weeks in Swaziland (now called Eswatini) a number of years ago. At that time, the country had the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. They saw, in those who had surrendered their lives to Christ, a deep and rich joy in the Lord despite their poor living conditions, or loved ones dying. Drew says, “The understanding of the love of Christ surpassed their circumstances.”

Drew has experienced this in other countries as well, where the lack of “stuff” came with significantly more gratitude than in our land of plenty. That doesn’t mean their lives were easy; but they found joy and delight in little things that we so often take for granted—the beauty of a sunset, the fun of playing ball with friends, of carving wood, of visiting and singing together.

Have an Attitude of Gratitude

As we enter this holy Advent season where we celebrate the birth of the One who is the source of hope and the giver of life, let’s increase our “attitude of gratitude”—not only for our own benefit, but for those we meet along the way.

(For more on this topic, see my post, Find Hope Through Giving Thanks.)

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May God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

—James 1:17 ESV