Glasses of Gratitude – November 26, 2020

Do not forget the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 8:11

Glasses of Gratitude

Imagine you have two pairs of special glasses. The first pair makes you see the people and things in your life in all the wrong ways. You see people who irritate you at work. You see people who don’t appreciate all that you do. You see people who slight you and disrespect you. You see all the faults in other members of your family. You see the disappointments in your family life or your lack of family life. With this pair of glasses, you see all the things that make you anxious, bitter—all the things that put you on edge. You see others who seem to have it far better than you. Worst of all, with this pair of glasses, you see no reason to think very much about your relationship with God.

Let’s be candid. You and I often wear these glasses with gusto. And when we do, we give God every reason to forget about us and walk away.

But he hasn’t, and he doesn’t. Instead, he sent his Son. When Jesus walked this earth, he never stopped thinking about us. He had you and me in mind when he lived a perfect life in our place and carried our sins of ingratitude to the cross. And because he has now risen from the dead, you and I not only get to bask in his forgiveness. You and I now get to live our lives wearing a different pair of glasses. These glasses empower us to see our lives as they truly are. They are the glasses of thankfulness.

When you put these on, you see something wondrous. You see the hand of God taking care of you. He makes sure that you have enough to eat, that you have something to wear, that you have a place to stay. He demonstrates his love for you through friends and family. He demonstrates his love for you through medical teams that see to your physical needs. Most of all, he demonstrates his love for you through his living Word, through his message of the cross and the empty tomb of Easter.

With the glasses of gratitude, that is what we see. Wearing them, we will not forget.

Prayer:
Thank you, Lord. And help me see all I have for which to give thanks. Amen.