by mrs lilyI was skimming through the channels the other day and Tyra Banks was on her little talk show, and there was a guy showing women how to use sponge curlers. I could not believe it. They were all cocking their heads to the side in wonder, how to use this retro styling tool, and how the old was new once again. But some of these women acted like they had never even seen these doodads before. I mean, really, are you kidding me?? I used these when I was little!
My dad was reminiscing to me the other day about an old car we used to have and how the day we got that car was the same day he got his first Nextel cell phone and called my mom long distance when she was on vacation visiting her family. I sort of rolled my eyes and I think I made a joke about how he was showing his age, but I obviously didn't get the point. I think what he was trying to tell me was that we are so very blessed to have so many things, so advanced technology at our fingertips that was impossible even when I was a kid.
I wonder sometimes why it is so hard to remember to be thankful. Perhaps that's why Paul mentioned so much in his letters to be thankful over and over. We always want more, and it seems as soon as we get more we are hardly even satisfied before we want even more. In our culture today it is so easy to take for granted things like this when they are so commonplace to us. And for some reason, if you don't have the upgraded model of such and such we feel deprived. We're not even thankful for what we do have.
How do you think this makes God feel, who provides for our every need?
Comments (9)
thanks for the very good reminder =)
I agree with your post. I think we need constant reminders on how much we have, either compared to those in poverty or those back in the old days.
I'm not too sure how God will feel... probably disappointed? Because as humans brought to this Earth, we are supposed to be living for Him, and praising Him.
Joan Osbourne depicts God as a hypothetical person who only looks foward to possible phone calls from the pope.
I think there are many many many many people in the world who look up and around and call God by different names; THE God, maker of all things, guy who gave us destructive hordes of talentless celebrities, and cutey cute puppy kats has many admirers. I don't really believe he cries if I forget every now and again, but I think he would appreciate a little more thanks.
Still, some extra money would be nice, Sir.
I believe he made us in his image. And we all love it when someone acknowledges our actions.....so I believe God does as well.
Saint Thomas Aquinas completed a work called the Summa Theologica. In it is a section on the nature of God. One attribute of God is that he is unchanging. So his love shines forth without end because that is his nature.
Feelings on the other hand, are a human faculty. They are subjective and changeable and help the intellect make sense of temporal existence.
Being grateful is a virtue (habitus) that the human being must continually work to refine. Daily readings of the Psalms help tremendously in this regard.
For gratitude to the Creator is the first step in the pursuit of happiness and our final end - the Beatific Vision.
Living a thankful life is part of living a life of worship. Worship isn't all about singing and raising our hands in a church somewhere, it's who we are as a Christian. Because it is part of worship, giving thanks to God for the blessings He has given us is pleasing to Him. Being ungrateful and un-thankful would certainly be the opposite of that.
Good post
God isn't surprised when we aren't thankful. The Bible says He knows our hearts, and He knows everything before it happens. It also says His ways are not ours and His thoughts are not the same as ours. I don't believe God sits in Heaven with his feelings hurt because someone has surprised Him in their behavior, though He does expect us to be thankful. If we are constantly dissatisfied with our material blessings and we have to have the newest, latest, and most expensive models of this or that, then we aren't behaving much like His children to begin with. We are acting more like the rich man who went away from Jesus down in the dumps because he told him to sell off his possessions and follow Him. The Bible says to "seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."
The only thing that really makes God happy is Jesus. If we are under His blood and have accepted Him as Lord and Savior...well, if nothing else does - that ought to be what makes us a thankful people.
yeah this was a really good reminder. i need to get out of this "world-revolves-around-me" way of thinking.
I think we really try God's patience sometimes. When I first moved out of my parents' house and started having to pay bills on my own, I was suddenly humbled. When the new month came and I was scraping the last bits of leftovers onto my plate, hoping, praying I'd be able to pay the bills, I discovered God's care in that regard. It was the little things. One example, my undergraduate school sent me a check for $75 a couple days before my graduate school billed me $75. God provided for me.
That's when I quietly whisper, "The grass and the sparrows," and give thanks.