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with Kathleen Gibson Oct. 8, 2008 Keep ingratitude at bay with simple �thanks� We had dinner at our daughter�s the other day. �I will pray, Mama,� Benjamin Bean said, in the moment before his father began their family tradition of saying grace. Without waiting, he bowed his head, folded his hands, scrunched his eyes, and launched into it. �God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By his hand we all are fed, thank you, Lord, for daily�for daily�� Then he stopped. I took a peek. The Bean�s eyes were open, scanning the simple supper that sat in front of us. Back and forth they went, while we waited. Once he�d decided, his prayer came to a quick end. �For daily�RACAMONI! Amen!� I think God smiled along with the rest of us. His mother says he does that regularly. Any day now, I expect he�ll follow the pattern of most children learning to pray, and begin listing every food item on the table: ��for vegebles, an� meat, an� milk, an� soup, an� crackers, (Taba, SHUT YOUR EYES!) �.for vegebles, an� meat, an� milk, an� soup, an� crackers, an� (Mama, is there SALT? Yes, Benjamin, there�s salt.) an� salt�� Grace could soon take a long time when the Bean presides over the dinner table. I love these signs that our grandson is interested in speaking truth. After all, why thank God for bread, if �racamoni� is about to land on your plate? And I appreciate equally that his parents are teaching him and his younger siblings the fine art of gratitude to God and others. Few words are sweeter than a little voice unexpectedly saying, �Kew, Kew, Nana,� as I hand over a treat. Gratitude is perhaps life�s most crucial quality. Says author Edward Young, �He that's ungrateful has no guilt but one; All other crimes may pass for virtues in him.� One of the most distressing things in my life over the past year has been my inability to adequately (in person) thank everyone God has used to set the Preacher�s and my table with �daily bread� since Rick�s onset of West Nile Neurological Disease in August of �07. Sudden disability is very like a �soul tsunami�. It washes over its victims, toppling things and opening wide fissures in places one has long believed unassailable. The fissures have bridges, though. People, sent by God, who step into the gaps and make a way to cross onto the next stable step. So what am I grateful for? For friends and family, churches and strangers who�ve helped with everything, from meals to money. For sick leave and severance cheques. For fruit baskets and floral bouquets. For encouragement and emails. For benefit dinners and bear hugs, prayers and prayer shawls. For cards and company, gifts and graciousness. For emails, encouragement, and empathetic employers. God has set before us, in the presence of our enemies�illness, disability�a banquet. Our list, like Benjamin�s, could continue forever� Thank you, God. Please bless these people as they have blessed us. � 2008 Kathleen Gibson Respond Home |
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