Sundays are for gratitude. Good morning, digital neighbor! Blessed and joyful Sunday to each and every one of you. Being grateful is a much better path to walk than merely feeling grateful. Some of us will never feel grateful, and if gratitude depends entirely on feeling, it may never take root in the hearts or minds of many. Being grateful—choosing gratitude and willing an attitude of gratitude—changes everything within us. Our external world may not change, but we will.

It is in the will—the most neglected part of the mystery of our personhood—that we can truly choose gratitude. What I decide, even more than what I feel or think, will have the greatest impact on who I am becoming as I make my pilgrimage through life. Feelings color our days for better or worse, and thoughts help us discern the good, the true, and the beautiful, but it is in the will where the rubber meets the road.

I choose to be thankful. I want to express gratitude. I do not close my eyes to the brokenness of this life, nor to the stupid, selfish, and ugly around me and within me. Rather, I choose to focus first on gratitude and then discern what changes I can make in myself and around me so that gratitude may expand in my life. I am far better off listing reasons for gratitude than doom-scrolling the news or surrendering myself to the next fearcast or gloom-report. I try my best to stay informed without being consumed, to remain engaged without being enslaved by my reactions or anxieties. I hope and pray you are able to do the same.  An old hymn for you church going types and perhaps some new words to those unfamiliar.  Prayer is about thanking God, praising God, loving God, but it not about changing God. It is about changing me.

FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of ear and eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony Linking sense to sound and sight: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thy Church that evermore Lifteth holy hands above, Offering up on every shore Her pure sacrifice of love: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best Gift Divine! To our race so freely given; For that great, great love of Thine, Peace on earth and joy in heaven: Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.

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