There’s a lovely phenomenon of gratitude doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment, with people challenged to ‘give thanks daily, for three things for five days’, and to nominate three friends to do the same.
There are the usual suspects: family, work mates and friends. But what I love is the thoughtful ways people are expressing their gratitude to these people. So it’s not just, ‘I’m grateful for a loving husband’, but ‘for an amazing, patient husband who doesn’t fly off the handle at people and who is always gracious’. And then there are things that we may not always think to be grateful for, like ‘hand-knitted woollen jerseys’, ‘Saturday morning sleep-ins’, ‘the great people that I work with, who make my life so much easier’, and ‘the freedom and right to vote’ (let’s never forget what a privilege that is!).
One of my friends works for The Salvation Army as a missionary. She’s grateful for technology, saying, ‘It keeps me in touch with family and friends. As someone so far from home, it is wonderful to be able to Skype. It also makes me respect the missionary officers who have gone overseas in days gone by who didn’t have such privileges.’
Science tells us that grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism, and lower levels of depression and stress. So, gratitude is good for our health. It’s also good for the communities in which we live and work. In an essay for ‘Big Questions Online’, psychologist Robert Emmons argues that ‘gratitude is the adhesive that binds members of society together’. I think that’s probably true. Any family or workplace has a stronger, healthier connection when its members take the time to say thank you to one another.
My own gratitude goes to those off whose pages I’ve borrowed these thoughts—without your permission. Thank you for lifting my vision to see some of the beauty around me that I too easily take for granted. Thank you for nurturing the gratitude that sometimes sits dormant in my soul.
Christina Tyson
Editor
Zephaniah 3:17 Contemporary English Version
‘The Lord your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and he will refresh your life with his love.’
Tepania 3:17
‘Kei roto a Ihowa, tou Atua, i a koe, a, he nui ia, mana e whakaora; ka koa ia, ka hari ki a koe; ka ata noho ia i runga i tona aroha, ka whakamanamana ia, ka waiata ki a koe.’