But every good endowment that we possess and every complete gift that we have received must come from above, from the Father of all lights, with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency. By his own wish he made us his own sons through the Word of truth that we might be, so to speak, the first specimens of his new creation. James 1:17-18 J.B. Phillips New Testament
Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’
and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.
In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response
to the awareness of gifts received,
but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.
The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge
that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love,
a gift to be celebrated with joy.
Henri Nouwen
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Lord, I’m learning that You are the Giver of all things and that You delight to give good gifts to your children. But I also know that it grieves You when the children value the gift more that the Giver, and when they seek things more than they seek You. Lord I do not want to be a greedy child, always looking at myself and my things. I want to be a pleasing child, grateful for all You do and give, but grateful – most of all – for You. Amen