Sometimes at the end of the day it is hard not to chew and stew over what went wrong

in the day.  We may focus on what we judge to be wrong with ourselves and with each other.  However it may be healthier and more productive to give thanks.  Giving thanks may even help us in our efforts to become peacemakers.

Researchers* have demonstrated that people who feel grateful more frequently also happen to be more helpful and forgiving and generally happier than those who are less grateful.  In relationship to being a peacemaker, I am taken with the idea that study participants more aware of and able to count their blessings were also able to be more helpful and forgiving. 

Charles Dickens once wrote, “Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  Some people may be predisposed to be more grateful than others. However, most of us can benefit from a concerted effort to give thanks more often. 

This is an experiment I have worked at in my own life.  I have tried to be more intentional in giving thanks both to God and to other people.  What I notice, when I reflect on making this effort is that my heart begins to open in new and unexpected ways.  I find that I become less judgmental of myself and of others.  Occasionally, I learn to see the perspectives of others in different ways.  I grow in awareness that all of God’s creation is mysterious beyond my own understanding.

Today, with the psalmist, let us practice giving “thanks to the name of the Lord.”

 

* McCullough, Emmons, & Tang, 2002; Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003