Gratitude for God's Gifts in your Life

by Fr. Adrian Farrelly OP

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We feel good when someone says “Thank You”. You know you are appreciated and your kindness has been acknowledged. I knew an American priest who organised retreats in Ireland. He was always grateful for any little thing you would do. Not only would he say ‘thank you’ once, he would say it three times – “thank you, thank you, thank you!” Saying ‘thanks’ goes a long way.

But not everyone is like that. Some people rarely say thanks. When we make an effort for someone and don’t even get a ‘thank you’, we can feel foolish and upset. When that happens, we can be slow to do it again.

Asking, Asking, Asking

Saying ‘thanks’ has a big part to play in our relationship with God. Many people find that their prayer has become dull and stagnant. One reason might be that their prayer is mostly prayer of petition – ‘asking, asking, asking’. We ask God for what we need and we believe that God has the power to help us. This is true, but prayer is more than that. An important part of Praying is thanking God for the blessings in our life.

Appreciating God’s Gift’s in your Life

Making time to think about God’s gifts helps us to appreciate how truly blessed we are. Top of the list for all Christians should be “Faith”, the gift of knowing that Jesus was the Messiah.

Think about all the gifts that the Gift of Faith brings to your life. It gives you access to the Churches Sacraments; access to the truth about your earthly life; access to the Bible which helps us grow in wisdom, compassion, courage and all the virtues. This information helps us to grow as a person, as opposed to being at the mercy of the devil and getting involved with things that make us feel ashamed and guilty. Through our Christian Faith, we get access to the Lives of the Saints, who can inspire us, guide us and intercede for us. We get access to Prayer which draws down even more graces and blessings from God, not only for us, but also for our family and friends; and prayer also comforts us when we are going through tough and upsetting times. When we seriously start to think about God’s Gifts to us, then we can be amazed as to how blessed we are.

The Importance of Prayer

This is why Prayer is so important, because Prayer gives us the time to think about these things. These insights and realisations are the ideas that shape our lives. If we can appreciate how important it is to understand these aspects of our faith, then we will continue to grow as people, but more importantly, as Christians. People who have strong faith change the world.

Always be Thankful to God

So always be genuinely grateful to God for all the blessings in your life, but most especially for the Gift of Faith, even when you are going through a tough time. We all feel bad sometimes; life has good times and bad times. Our relationship with God gives us hope and the strength to cope with the trials of life, and also to enjoy the good times too. It is right to be grateful to God for all His gifts to us all, and the more time we spend contemplating all the different ways that God blesses us, the more we learn to appreciate His gifts and blessings in our life.