Gratitude and Gifts

There are so many things to say “thank you” for...

Just the gifts from friends in my congregation takes a long paragraph... I'm smiling as I write this... giving thanks... for Christmas cards; for gifts on our behalf to the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign and to the Heifer Project; for Christmas cookies, trays of goodies, candy, and caramel corn; for Barnes & Noble gift cards; for cash; for steaks and venison and for all those things I’ve forgotten to mention specifically (please forgive me, I’m writing this with no notes while drinking coffee in Pella on the first Monday after Christmas). And – most of all – I am grateful for warm, sincere wishes of “Merry Christmas” accompanied by your bright eyes and smiles. Thank you, thank you all.

Thomas Merton wrote, "To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us--and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him."

For me, gratitude is at the heart of celebrating Christmas. Gratitude is the heart of contemplative, Christ-like, compassionate, joyful living. As I reflected on the wide variety of Christmas gifts we received this year (not to mention the many gifts we’ve been given throughout the year—so many acts of love and compassion I almost lose count of them all), I can’t help but think of the wide variety of spiritual gifts given to the Church through the Holy Spirit. We each have spiritual gifts that differ—yet all of our gifts have this in common: our gifts our given to us by the Holy Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ, for the equipping of the body for ministry, for the glory of God. I am grateful for the gifts God has given our congregation through the Spirit. May we all be “wide-awake” to these gifts in ourselves and in each other during this exciting New Year we have been given by God.

Adapted from the January newsletter