Gratitude as Motivator

Somewhere in my reading and listening, I came across the assertion that the Unitarian Universalist experience often leads to an awareness of how SMALL each of us is in the world and of our total dependence on the Web of Existence. This feeling of smallness can lead to many reactions: fear, wonder, anxiety, uncertainty, awe. In UU's, a common reaction is gratitude. Gratitude to the Mystery of Life, to a Higher Power, to God for making our lives and experiences possible.

Progressive Christianity tends to emphasize this gratitude as a motivator. Christians give back to the world, live in kindness, serve justice in gratitude for the blessing of life.

Some Christians work from a center of fear. There will be retribution in this life or the next if one does not perform good works, live a life of service. Other Christians look forward to Salvation in the afterlife. If one does all the right things, one will be rewarded with eternal Bliss.

All three motivators--Fear, Salvation and Gratitude--can result in the same outcome. I think that's important to remember.

But I like the concept of immediate payback. I get blessings from Life. In gratitude, I say "Thanks" to Life right away by supporting Life and encouraging Life to bloom. I also like being grounded here and now. Being fully present in the miracle that is Life. There is less drama with Gratitude as motivator, but Life hands out enough drama of its own. I don't need to create more.

How's your motivation today?

Friendship

I just got back from a week visiting my sister-of-the-heart in Alabama. I've heard several writers and speakers talk about the different types of friends we have in our lives. In one of these descriptions, we can have "Friends for a Reason, Friends for a Season, and Friends for Life." I've know this friend for over 25 years, and we are definitely friends for life. We bonded during two years shared in Kansas and when our families separated, we promised each other that we would visit at least once every year. During this year's visit, we compiled a "Visit Journal", recording the dates, locations and memories of all our visits. We discovered that we had missed only one calendar year, but there were many years when we were able to arrange more than one visit.

I have as many reasons as there are stars to feel blessed by this friendship.

So today, I share a few verses from Proverbs because nobody says it better.

A friend loves at all times, and kinsfolk are born to share adversity. (17:17)

Some friends play at friendship, but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin. (18:24)

One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disuputes will alienate a friend. (17:9)

Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (27:6)

And I close with that powerful verse from John (and for this, I love King James):

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.(15:13)

If you have a friend like this, give thanks this day. If you do not, give thanks for the friends for a reason or a season that you do have and keep your heart open for that friend for life.

May it be so. Amen.

Not To Us, O Lord

In Shakespeare's play, The Life of Henry the Fifth, Act 4, Scene 8, the British have just won an unexpected victory over the French at Agincourt. They have had relatively few casualties and his men would love to pat themselves on the back. King Harry says, "Come, go we in procession to the village, And be it death proclaimed through our host To boast of this, or take that praise from God which is his only." He then commands, "Do we all holy rites: Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum, The dead with charity enclosed in clay;..."

The movie version of the play (Henry V, 1989, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh) portrays that command. While the tired, mud-soaked and bloody men slowly walk the field, a young soldier begins singing these words to a haunting melody:

Non nobis, Domine, sed nomine tua gloria.

Other voices join his, then an orchestra, so that the last notes ring over the battlefield and in our minds for long moments afterward.

My own knowledge of Catholic Church history and Shakespeare's words reminded me that King Harry's command would not have been unusual. "Te Deum" refers to an ancient prayer (To you, God) and "Non nobis" is shorthand for Psalm 115. Before English became an accepted sacred language, the Bible was read widely in Latin. Most people couldn't read, so prayers and Psalms were memorized. The first line of each Psalm, in Latin, became a title for that Psalm and a memory jog so people would know which psalm to pray--or to sing as in this depiction in Henry V. "Non nobis, Domine" becomes in English:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your Name give glory;
because of your love and because of your faithfulness.

To me, Psalm 115 is a prayer of mindfulness, of awareness that we have been blessed with powerful senses, and we don't use them. We can become like stone and metal idols that just sit on a shelf, uninvolved, uncommunicative. The last two verses of this psalm really stick with me:

The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor all those who go down into silence;
But we [emphasis mine] will bless the Lord, from this time forth for evermore.
Hallelujah!

If anyone is going to look around this earth and give thanks and praise for all that we've been given, it's not going to be the dead. This is a job for the living.

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.--Chief Tecumseh

I'm with the Chief, King Harry and Psalm 115. How about you?

Pause for Thanksgiving

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

This refrain resounds over and over again throughout the Book of Psalms and in Psalm 136, the writer repeats the sentiment four times just to make sure that the congregation remembers.

O give thanks!

Gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness, appreciation. In our lives we can always find one thing every day for which to be grateful.

So right now, pause. Begin to think of people and events and places for which you are grateful. Close your eyes and let your gratitude swell gently within you. Acknowledge the God of Many Names, the Divine Spirit, which flows around you, through you and in you. Say Thank You. Say it again.

O give thanks!

May it be so. Amen.