I swept the Christmas cookies, candy wrappers, and crumbs from the classroom floor after the party as this fleeting thought swept through my mind, “Of my twenty-seven students, only a few of them said, ‘thank you,’ for the Christmas pencils, erasers, and stamps I gave them.” That thought was quickly replaced with, “Well, I guess I’m not the only parent who constantly teaches their children to be grateful, and yet my children continue to be entitled, ungrateful and forgetful of expressing thanks.” As I brushed more and more crumbs into that dust pan, I felt like God was whispering, “This is a picture of you and me sometimes, Morgan. You forget to give Me thanks when blessings are all around you, always pouring into your life. You forget to notice the little gifts scattered throughout your days.”
Like my students (and my own children) who have an abundance of things, opportunities, experiences to the point that they feel entitled to parties, toys, Christmas programs, and fun, fun, fun, I have the same perspective on my life. If I’m honest with myself, I slip into feeling “entitled” for my life to be filled with fun times and lots of chocolate! I expect things to be easy and comfortable and even may grumble when they’re not. I’m led to my knees to cry out {yet again!}, “Abba, Father, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Give me eyes to see Your goodness all around me. Give me a heart that looks more like yours. Cleanse me of my sense of entitlement until all that remains is a sense of joyful gratitude for who You are and for what You have done.”
I have been in that place before where gratitude fills my thoughts and prayers, where gratitude begets more gratitude begets joy in all circumstances. But generally, that place of gratitude is during or following a time of great trial and difficulty. I don’t want to be the stubborn fool who first must wallow in the mud to appreciate a good bath. Instead, I want gratitude to be like the air that I breathe…inhaling God’s goodness and exhaling my thanks over and over.
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV).
