By Jim Taylor and Christine Leigh-Taylor
Matthew 6: 25-33
We didn’t have a script for this sermon/reflection, just a series of points that we wanted to make.
The scripture reading from Matthew’s gospel came at the end of a long chapter, in which Jesus gave his followers a series of “don’ts.” Don’t make a show of your religious faith. Don’t make a show of your generosity. Don’t show off your clothes or your house. And then he gives the disciples another “don’t” – don’t worry. God will look after you, just as God looks after the flowers of the field and the birds of the air.
And we noted that not worrying is impossible. We have health issues. We worry about the state of the world, with hurricanes and wars and election campaigns run on lies.
But that doesn’t prevent us from being grateful, from practicing the attitude of gratitude. Jim was grateful for being allowed to drive again, and for the quality of the health care he has been receiving. Christine was grateful for her family, her friends, her education, her home.
Of course there will be difficult times. We all lose people we love. But even as we grieve their absence, we can be grateful for the time we have had with them, for the ways they shaped our lives.
Even in bad times, we have enough. We have enough food, enough warmth in our homes, enough people who love us and care about us.
And we ARE enough. Who we are, just as we are, is who God loves.
We need to remember that it’s not just about me and you, or me and God. Remember, God created the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, as well as us humans. We can be grateful for being part of a marvelous network of life.
Gratitude is not just an occasional prayer said over the Thanksgiving turkey. And it is not something we could or should do on just one day a year. It’s more than a routine to be followed.
There are things we can do to foster that attitude of gratitude. We can keep a gratitude journal, writing down each day at least one thing we’re grateful for that day. Former minister Jim Hannah kept two little buckets with small round stones in them. Each day where gratitude had been dominant, he moved a stone into that bucket; each day that had been a downer, he moved a stone from the positive bucket to the negative one. It’s all part of building a habit of feeling grateful.
Every breath is a matter of drawing the world into yourself, and letting yourself go out into the world. It would be wonderful if every breath could be a prayer of thanksgiving.
And we reap benefits from gratitude. Psychologists have found that we sleep better, have less stress, even live longer when we make thankfulness a habit.
We sang, “This is the day… that our God has made… we will rejoice… and be glad in it…” The song seemed to us to sum up the notion of being grateful, of giving thanks, as a constant approach to life.
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