Remembering to Give Thanks

Read: Psalm 103; Luke 17:11-17

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—   (Ps. 103:1-2)

One of the greatest, and most detrimental, drawbacks to living in this current technology-driven age of ‘instant everything’ is, it seems to me, the radical shortening of our attention-span, and, with it, our memory. We have become so obsessed with taking in as much information, and having as many different experiences, as quickly as possible that we are losing our ability to step out of the moment in order to analyse the information that we take in, or reflect on the significance of the experiences we’ve had. When we don’t take time to reflect on our experiences, we are less likely to learn from them, and much less likely to be grateful for them.

Today’s Bible readings indicate that the propensity for people to forget about the blessings that God pours into their lives is not just a present-day phenomenon. The psalm-writer had to remind himself, “forget not all [God’s] benefits.”  And, of the ten people with leprosy who Jesus heals in Luke, Chapter 17, only one remembered to come back and say “Thank you.” These passages thus convey a clear link between a lack of reflection caused by a short attention span and a lack of gratitude for the multitude of blessings, small and huge, that God pours into our lives on a daily basis.

Gracious Heavenly Father, Please forgive me for my propensity to let my busyness and my consequently minuscule attention span prevent me from recognizing the multitude of blessings that You lavish on me day by day. Sharpen my perception and expand my memory that I may develop an attitude of gratitude for the life that You have given me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.