The “Act” titude of Gratitude
By profession I am a college English teacher. If you have ever known any English teachers, you know we take words very seriously so for me to title this blog “The ‘Act’ titude of Gratitude” instead of the common phrase “The Attitude of Gratitude,” you know I am trying to stress that gratitude should be an act not just a casual “thank you.”
In Luke 17: 11-19, Jesus healed ten lepers. The ten men were miraculously, completely healed. How happy they must have been! Just think how happy you or I would have been if we had been healed of the worst disease known in Jesus’ time. One man came and publicly praised the Lord and threw himself at Jesus’ feet thanking Him but the other nine did nothing! They couldn’t take the time to walk back to where Jesus was and thank Him and praise God the Father! They may have felt gratitude but they did nothing to demonstrate it!
I remember the first time I heard that parable. My mother read it in the Bible to me and she cried because it hurt her so deeply that the nine lepers did not go back and thank Jesus. When I say Mother cried, I mean she actually cried tears because it hurt her so deeply that the nine failed to show appreciation to Jesus. The remarkable thing was that every time Mother read that Scripture, she cried. Decade after decade, when Mother read Luke 17: 11-19, she cried! My mother was not one to cry. She was a very happy person but she cried when she read that passage in the Bible because she realized Jesus wanted the men to thank God the Father for the miracle and they did not!
I am sharing this anecdote because it shows how important gratitude should be in our lives. I truly believe that if we thanked the Lord in all situations, as we are told to do in the Bible, we would be infinitely happier. In fact I believe gratitude to the Lord for our innumerable blessings would be the single most important thing we could do to raise our level of happiness!
So Dear Readers, I hope you will join me in praising the Lord and thanking Him for His Infinite blessings to us. PRAISE THE LORD!!
Until next time,
love from your friend Hope
