A Short Lesson on Gratitude
Today I want to share a short story I found with you about gratitude. We are coming near Thanksgiving and I believe we can never be as thankful as we ought to be.
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, “I am blind, please help.”
There were only a few coins in the hat – spare change from folks as they hurried past.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. Then he put the sign back in the boy’s hand so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.
That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign returned to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”
I wrote, “Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it.” (written by Nick Ortner)
Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see… When your life seems full of troubles, it seems difficult to maintain an attitude of gratitude, doesn’t it? All we see are our problems, like storm cloud casting a dark shadow over our lives. We often don’t realize the wonderful blessings we have and who they have come from.
We take every day for granted. We take all our bodily functions like we have earned them. We walk through life like everything is owed to us. Even God owes us! We can never be thankful enough. We can never thank God enough! We live our lives like there is no tomorrow. We expect things to go great and when they don’t we blame God. God knows what we need. We only know what we want! He knows all too well that tomorrow comes quicker than we think.
Look around you. I just lost a very good friend from childhood. Even though his earthly body is gone from me I know he is with our heavenly Father. But I know him and he had plans for many days, years ahead. Isn’t that how we all are? Only God knows our true past. What is in our hearts. Only God knows what lies ahead for each of us. We need to thank our wonderful Savior for everything in our lives, our family lives, our church and the wonderful people in it doing God” work. Look at what you support in life. Is it more important than your relationship with God? If everything in your life doesn’t glorify God you are just wasting a day the Lord has given you. We have another blessing. As we squander the wonderful days of our lives Jesus paid the price for all our sins. He paid it all. To give us a chance to overcome sin, change our lives and be the best, for Him, we can be. God never promises a constant rose garden to live with. God gives us the hope of a better tomorrow. Give thanks to all you are. Give thanks for everything you have, and that includes a wonderful church to give thanks in. This thanksgiving I hope is a reminder to live in the glory of what and who has been given to you.
Dear Lord and Savior of us all. Help us to see that life without you, life without giving thanks is a waste of our tomorrows. Thank you for everything we see and everything we cannot see. In your name we pray. Amen
Blessings and gratitude to all of you,
Rev. Coy
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