THANKS FOR THE THERAPY OF GIVING THANKS

11/18/90


THANKS FOR THE THERAPY OF GIVING THANKS
PSALMS 103: 1 - 5
(PAGE 888 "COME ALIVE BIBLE")
JESUS CHRIST told the story of ten men suffering from the dread
disease of leprosy. All were instantly, miraculously healed. As
they ran away to share the good news, only one paused long
enough to say thanks. Only one of ten acknowledged gratitude
for restored health. Perhaps that ratio would be one of one
hundred.
To personalize the account consider whether your general
attitude as expressed over the last few months would cast you in
the role of the one who was thankful or with the ingrates.
Even in our greatest distress there is much for which to be
thankful. It is a matter of attitude. Senica, the Roman emperor,
wrote: "If only I have the will to be grateful I am so. It is a
matter of the will."
Our Pilgrim predecessors are a classic example of this. For some
reason we have come to believe that they gave thanks because
they were abundantly and obviously blessed. Not so. One of their
number wrote a description of conditions out of which came their
giving of thanks. He wrote they saw "...the grim and grisly face
of poverty coming upon them like an armed man with whom they
must buckle and encounter (that is, fight), and from whom they
could not fly."
It is true that attitudes are influenced by circumstances, but
they must not be allowed to be dictated by circumstances.
Westill have the liberty of choosing our attitude regardless of
circumstances. The attitude of the Pilgrims did more to sustain
them than circumstances did to suppress them.
Shakespeare penned a prayer ...

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