Gratitude

The leftovers are long gone, but our thanks-giving deepens within us as we begin Advent preparations and Christmas celebrations. Afterall, isn’t that what lies beneath our hustle and bustle, giving thanks for the blessings in our lives? The parties, the gifts, even the holiday cards – these are small tokens we give to people as a reflection of the gratitude we feel for their participation in our lives. And let’s not forget the extra charitable giving so many of us do this season as we become acutely aware and grateful for our material security. Even as we feel harried and tired and stretched thin, deep down, we still recognize that virtually everything we do for others during the holiday season is an expression of gratitude for them.

But, gratitude is not just for a season. It is also a characteristic of a fully functioning person. Martin Seligman, founder of the field of Positive Psychology, along with a research team of top psychologists, identified Gratitude as one of 24 primary strengths of character that humanity has valued across time and culture. Gratitude is a sense of joy and thankfulness when we receive from others. In their international survey published in 2004, Gratitude was one of the five most common character strengths endorsed by virtually all 54 industrialized nations studied, including Americans. We are not simply a people who set aside one day every year to express thankfulness; we value and cultivate it year round.

As we should. Gratitude is not a mystery of our faith, like the incarnation or the resurrection of Jesus. However, gratitude is one of the primary means by which we touch all the mysteries of our faith. The Latin for gratitude, gratia, means grace. When Christians use the word grace, we do so as a proxy for the word God. Grace refers to the tangible, felt presence of God in one’s life. Through grace/gratitude we become fully human, connect to our deepest core self, become more capable of reaching out to others, and join in fellowship and intimacy with God. Gratitude brings the recognition that I am not the author of my life, that I do not control the goods I have or even who I am. Gratitude is recognizing that all the goods of life and even life itself are gift, that someone beside me has given to me every single thing that I know to be good. Scripture talks about each of us being created to praise and serve the Lord. Gratitude is praising the Lord, thanking God for whatever good-ness, large or small, we see in our lives.

Advent is a time of preparation, preparation for the coming of the Lord into our hearts and into our world. And gratitude is one of the primary ways we prepare for and open ourselves for Jesus’ coming. Yes, we can easily bemoan the fact that this time of year is too commercial, too busy and too little associated with God. But, when we instead deepen our sense of gratitude, we open ourselves to grace, to Emmanuel, to God-with-us.