The Importance of Gratitude

"The good Lord has always been good to me."

My grandfather often said this pious little prayer of thanks in gratitude for all that God had done for him. He was a somewhat wealthy construction company owner, lace-curtain Irish, raised with servants, who eloped to marry the family nurse. Not a bad lifestyle. He had very much to be grateful for and he certainly was.

It's not uncommon that we despair when bad news comes to us. Not grandpa. When his father (and provider) died, he was on his way to study at the University of Notre Dame. He turned around and went back home. He had to help provide for the family. Many of us would have cursed the moment and grown angry and bitter with God. How could He do that to us? Yet grandpa knew that the Lord would provide.

Even though things looked gloomy, the Lord provided for my grandfather. He gave him the means to start a company with my great-uncle and the two helped finish the work they had started when working for their father's company. The old brick Lincoln Highway still stands as a testament in Nebraska to the determination of my grandfather to go about his work with joy and thanks, never allowing the storms to disturb him.

When grandpa grew old, he got Alzheimer's Disease. He could no longer remember how good the Lord had been to him. He couldn't remember his own children. Yet he displayed a simple faith. He found the time and the opportunity to smile in the nursing home. If there wasn't something happening to make people laugh, he'd do it himself. A good laugh is a prayer of gratitude for joy.

We need to be grateful for the good things God gives us, but also for the bad. He means only to test us, to strengthen us, and to help us to endure the consequences we bring on ourselves. Sometimes things go badly. Sometimes life hurts. But let's not get confused, it's we who cause the evil and God who provides the solution which leads to good.

Lastly, in gratitude, let us keep our eyes on Jesus, Our Light, and we will walk on water and not be shaken by the storm all around us.