GRATITUDE CHANGES ATTITUDE FOR THE BETTER
Colossians 3:15-17
We all know the story of the coming to America by the Pilgrims in 1621. Perhaps you, like I, have visited historic Plymouth Rock - the place where those searching for a better way of life came ashore. If you go there, you will find encased in a glass tomb the rock which supposedly marked the exact spot where Captain John Smith stepped onto American soil.
The highlight of my visit to that hallowed shrine was not the rock. It was the village in which those weary pilgrims first lived - preserved in part but restored as it was almost 400 years ago. In the center of the village, there is a meeting house where it is said that the Pilgrims gathered each year on the anniversary of their coming to America to give thanks to God for the blessings of religious freedom and daily provisions, even though these courageous seekers of peace suffered hardships we cannot begin to imagine.
Getting here was fraught with many dangers and multiple deaths. Arriving here was met with resistance the likes of which none of us have ever faced. Can you imagine occupying a land already inhabited by warriors armed with spears and deadly arrowheads?
Neither can we imagine the bleak winter of snow storms while trying to build thatched roofs for shelter; nor can we relate to the hunt for wild game to put meat on the table - hunting it and getting back home with it against the odds of becoming the hunted rather than the hunter; and running the risk of having it taken away from you by savages - losing your scalp in the process.
Despite all the difficulties that challenged our forerunners, they nevertheless gathered together once a year to commemorate freedom from religious persecution and to express gratitude for God’s provisions.
We Americans have been so blessed that we can sing along with the composer of that great hymn of praise: “Great is thy faithfulness, O God our Father, morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”
Gratitude changed the attitude of those who celebrated the very first Thanksgiving in America. Their attitude was changed for the better in such a way that they went on, despite their hardships, and never gave up.
Do you think Americans really grasp the price that was paid through the centuries so that we might have the land of plenty and opportunity that we enjoy today – with all our comforts and conveniences?
When I felt the need to go to New Jersey to visit my disabled brother, all I did was go online, punch in delta.com and make a reservation; I could even choose the seat I wanted to sit in; I was served a snack and beverage as we jetted along through the sky at 550 miles per hour; I had breakfast at home, then enjoyed lunch with my brother in New Jersey – on the same day.
Think of it this way: If Julius Caesar had come to America for a visit in 1621 – the year the pilgrims came - he would have had very few questions to ask Captain John Smith; things would not have changed all that much; but, if Smith were to somehow visit America today, there would be no end to the questions he would ask – first, he would want to know where he was; then he would wonder out loud what happened!?
If Captain Smith did in fact return for a visit today, after an absence of more than 350 years, and once he found out that he was back on earth, do you suppose he would feel compelled to exclaim, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!?” (That’s if when he died 350 years ago his soul went to heaven from whence he had come back to visit America.)
We have had it so good; yet so many folks talk and act as if they owe a debt of gratitude to nobody including God their Creator. This self-centeredness of some ungrateful folks causes me to wonder if they could ever sing “God Bless America” with a clear conscience:
“God bless America, land that I love; stand beside her, and guide her through the night, with the light from above.”
It is difficult for me to see how the Supreme Court could join hands with the children of America and sing “God Bless America” – for, you see, it was the court of 1963 that declared this child’s school prayer illegal:
We thank you for the flowers so sweet;
We thank you for the food we eat;
We thank you for the birds that sing;
We thank you God for everything.
Invoking the name of God doomed the praying of prayers for or by children in public schools. Whatever happened to the preamble to our Constitution – “We the people”? Do you recall the days when we could say, and really mean it, “of the people, by the people, for the people?”
Mrs. Yow, my fourth-grade teacher, a saint of God if there ever was one, probably turned over in her grave when the highest court in this land outlawed public prayers openly addressed to God in public schools.
Mrs. Yow began every day of fourth grade with scripture reading and prayer. In her classroom, there was silence; in her classroom, there was reverence; in her classroom, there was diligence. If a child disrupted her class, that child was taken to the cloak room and paddled; I ought to know; but, you know, I never did understand how it hurt her worse than it hurt me!
Just recently, a teacher friend of mine – one of those rare individuals who expects silence, reverence and diligence on the part of students, resigned under pressure due to the uncompromising complaint by a parent whose child had been suspended; the child constantly made disturbing noises and inappropriate gestures toward other students; he delighted in making fun of the teacher; he refused to do his work and interfered with those trying to do their work; the principal could not paddle the child, but he did suspend the ungrateful little terror.
The school where my friend taught is a private Christian school that depends on donations from wealthy parents and alumni; the parent of the troublemaking child demanded that the headmaster terminate the teacher for “singling out” his child for punishment; the headmaster explained to my friend that he had no choice but to let him go because the child’s dad is one of the school’s benefactors.
I am so grateful for the discipline of learning that I was subjected to by teachers and others who had my best interests at heart; but I am amazed at the ingratitude of so many today who have little or no appreciation for our blessings - education and freedom of worship that are ours because others endured hardships and fought for these privileges in years gone by.
Ingratitude worsens attitude. If you or I succumb to the spiritual disease of an ungrateful heart, we will find ourselves becoming victims of adverse circumstances of our own making.
I shudder to think of the future of a child, for example, whose “bad attitude” dad harmed him rather than help him when he interfered with those whose gratitude for educational opportunity motivated them to expect, of all things, reverence and diligence on the part of their students.
At our age and stage in life, we don’t need to make our situations any worse than they already are by displaying an attitude of ingratitude that expresses itself in ways that harm rather than help. It’s better to be grateful than hateful. I have confidence in you to be grateful.
Did you know that if you make a habit of demonstrating an attitude of gratitude, you and those around you will experience peace . . . those around you will respect you . . . those around you will be influenced by your positive attitude; those around you will strive be like you; they too will want to give thanks to God the Father.
Gratitude changes attitude for the better! That was the message Paul tried to convey to the Colossian Christians – and it is the message America needs to hear and heed in our day.
I read the story of one man’s experience that changed his life for the better. You might say that a little girl’s prayer of thanks stopped this man from grumbling and started him giving thanks as a way of life. The experience certainly improved his attitude.
The man’s wife had left him and he was severely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God – and he found no joy in living.
One rainy morning this man went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast.
Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else.
This miserable guy sat on a stool, hunched over the counter, stirring his cup of coffee with a spoon.
In one of the booths along the window was a young mother with her little girl.
They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the silence by saying out loud, “Mama, why don’t we say the blessing here?”
The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, “Sure, honey, we say the blessing here. Will you say the blessing for us?” The waitress then turned to the others in the diner and asked that they bow their heads for the blessing. Surprisingly, one by one, everybody bowed their heads.
The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said:
“God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for our food. Amen.”
That prayer changed the entire atmosphere in that diner. People began to talk with one another; and the waitress said, “We should do that every morning.”
“Suddenly,” said the man who had lost his wife, “my whole frame of mind started to improve.
“From that little girl’s example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop murmuring about all that I did not have.
“At that moment, I chose to be a grateful person, and I have known nothing but peace within ever since.”
Let gratitude change your attitude for the better! Amen.
