Gratitude

     One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is gratitude.  So often I take things for granted and don’t really take into consideration that everything in my life is a blessing.  Even the things that sometimes make me upset or impatient are a blessing; as St. Thérèse of Lisieux said, “everything is grace.”  So often I fail to be grateful for something because I take it for granted or I refuse to look at why God has placed an obstacle or trial in my life.  I somehow subconsciously think that I don’t have to pause and be thankful because it is my “due”, that it is something that is owed to me because of how good a job I’ve been doing.  But when I stop to think about it, I am not owed a single thing.  Not an atom of dust.  In fact, were I left to myself, I would quickly disintegrate into misery and nothingness.  If it weren’t for Mercy and the grace of God, I would have no hope.  When I look back on my life, however, I see so many reasons to be grateful.  Even the times of trial I see as a blessing in hindsight because of the growth that it catalyzed.  Had I not endured that trial I would not have received that grace of growth and closer union with God.  It is in this way that God often disguises His blessings.  He grants us trials to test our dependence and complete trust in Him.  When I think about these moments of grace in my past, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of His Providence.   As Psalm 106 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever!”
     I read a quote a little while back that said “What if one day you woke up with only those things you had thanked God for?”  That hit me like a ton of bricks!  Think about it – only the things you had thanked God for.  It’s so easy to be selfish and to forget that everything I have comes from God!  And how often I have forgotten to thank Him and be grateful for every single one of those gifts!  I began to think of things that I’ve thanked God for on a regular basis, and the list came up so short of everything I should be thanking Him for.  When looking through the lens of gratitude, the world looks different.  You see the hand of God in everything!  As I thought about this, I began to make a list of things I constantly take for granted and forget to be thankful for:  a family that loves and supports me and my vocation, my Catholic faith, daily Mass, the gift of the Eucharist, holy friendships, my vocation, the generosity of those who support me in my vocation, the gift of Mercy when I fall, the Sacraments… The list goes on and on!  
      What if I hadn’t thanked God for these gifts and woke up one day without a loving family, the Eucharist, the Mass, friends, faith, hope…?  The world would be a very different place for me.  There are so many thankless jobs out there, and sometimes it can be easy to even forget to thank God.  Through His great Mercy and goodness, we have a reason to be thankful; a reason to hope.  We have families and friends to support us and encourage us.  We have Christ in the Sacraments and a loving God who burns for us daily in the Tabernacle, anxious to pour out His burning love upon us!  And countless other things, different for every person. 
      So many times in my life I think that things have been so hard, but that was only because they did not go the way I had wanted and planned for.  Upon further reflection, however, I realize that God has always given me exactly what I needed.  He has always taken care of me, and when I reflect on that beautiful truth I find no reason to not entrust my future completely to Him.  He lay down His life and died for us, rising again and restoring eternal life for mankind.  And will I not entrust my life to Him? 
     As we continue this blessed Easter season, I encourage you to join me in fostering (to use the cliché) an “attitude of gratitude”.  As I said earlier, the world looks different through the lens of gratitude.  It allows one to reflect on the infinite greatness and goodness of God.  His magnanimity is endless – we have only to adopt a thankful attitude, and we will see that indeed, everything is grace!  In the words of St. Paul, “always and for everything [give] thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Eph 5:20). 

Written by Catherine