November 6

How often do we receive gifts from God and not express how thankful we are? In today's reading, the account of the ten lepers that Jesus healed made me think about how desperately ungrateful we are. Jesus healed these people of an incurable disease that made them social outcasts... and only one out of ten thought to give thanks.

The women's retreat at Spofford a couple weeks ago was based on a book by Anne Voskamp called One Thousand Gifts. In this book, Anne explores the idea that thankfulness is the key to living an abundant joyful life. She was challenged to make a list of the gifts that God has given her. Making this list opened her eyes to the extent of God's generous love that He gives us every single day. Everything in our lives is a gift from God and He deserves our thanks for all of it.

I felt challenged to start my own list. Here are just a few of the many gifts that God has given me:

~ The sound of the bell on my dog's collar as he runs.

~ A single pine cone hanging on a high branch

~ Clouds that look like pink cotton candy

~ Pink grapefruit gelato

~ Buying a lot of Halloween candy and then having NO trick-or-treaters

~ Finding clean clothes so I can put off doing laundry one more day

~ Laughing until I cry

~ Harry Potter movie marathon with my mother-in-law

~ Florence and the Machine song "Between Two Lungs"

~ Sunrise through my office window

~ Safety through the storm

~ My broken car

~ Pain in my foot and my side

~ My mom's depression that has lasted for years

~ My brother's divorce

~ My sister-in-law's joblessness

~ My grandmother's Alzheimer's disease

~ Family members who are not getting along

~ Friends who have cancer

You've probably noticed that not all these gifts are things that are easy to be grateful for. We need to realize that God is in everything, He is in control of everything, and He does everything for the good of those who love Him. I may not understand why people I love get cancer and suffer, or why my hardworking sister got fired and can't find another job. But what I do know is that God loves us all, He will never let us go, and He has a plan for us. This means that there is always a reason to give thanks.

There is a wall of thanksgiving in the back of the sanctuary at Grace Church. We all have been challenged to write gifts from God on Post-it notes and put them on this wall. How amazing would it be if there were so many Post-it notes, that there would not be room for them all, to see them crowded together and overlapping? Lets make this wall a visual representation of our lives that overflow with the gifts from a loving God.