The Purpose Of Gratitude

I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I had asked for, but everything that I had hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered; I am among all men, most richly blessed.

—unknown Confederate soldier

This widely circulated “prayer,” purportedly found on the body of one of the nameless dead who fell in the Devil’s Den at Gettysburg in 1863, has retained its currency because it continues to challenge our most commonly held notions about gratitude and thanksgiving. The prayers most of us offer at the Thanksgiving table are about all the good things that have happened to us — those things that enrich our lives. But every life has its ups and downs, and if we are to be truthful with ourselves, we understand that while gratitude may blossom in the light of success and abundance, its roots reach way down into the darkness of the failure and insufficiency that touches most lives and one point or another. To those perpetually blessed, blessings mean nothing.

The gratitude that wells up in each of us at the outset of this holiday season has a great purpose and potential. If it is to achieve that potential, we must pay for it “in kind” to someone else somewhere else. Think for a moment of the dark and unhappy antecedents of your own gratitude and then look for them in the lives of others. When you find them, go ahead and make that payment.

Fortunately, here in Newtown there are always opportunities make the most of your gratitude. This past week, Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) and Newtown’s fire companies conducted separate and successful Thanksgiving food drives. The Newtown Fund and Salvation Army are already working to help fill the basic needs of scores of struggling local families for Christmas. The FAITH Food Pantry and the food pantry administered by the Salvation Army and Newtown’s Social Services Department are doing their best to keep the shelves stocked through the holiday season. Fortunately, each of these efforts annual enjoys widespread support in our community.

There is no single season of need, however. So let’s not limit this season of gratitude and generosity to a few weeks in November and December. Every day of the year, each of us walks the narrow divide between strength and weakness, health and infirmity, wealth and poverty, power and weakness, and even life and death. We are more likely to find our way when we walk it together.