Thanksgiving and the Virtue of Gratitude

As we gather for Thanksgiving on Thursday God willing, everyone will be in good health and it will truly be a time of thankfulness or gratitude.

In Judaism gratitude is a virtue.  The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat ha-tov, “recognition of the good (another has done for you).” In other words, grateful people look forward to helping those who have helped them.  A biblical example of gratitude can be found in II Kings 4:13, when after many welcome invitations by a wealthy woman to Elisha and his servant to be guests in her home Elisha’s servant asks her: “You have gone to all this trouble for us.  What can we do for you?”  It turns out that she was infertile, so Elisha prayed for her and she conceived. 

In this story notice how an act of gratitude begins with a simple “Thank you”.  First the servant says: “You have gone to all this trouble for us.”  And then he asks: “What can we do for you?”  There is an ethic to being grateful. 

In addition, being grateful brings happiness, both to the one who is grateful and the one for whom the gratitude is being shared. .  Consider how one feels when one is grateful.   What is being shared when someone says:  “Look at what so and so did for me.  He must really care.”  When we cultivate gratitude we are cultivating a feeling of being loved, as well. 

The cultivation of gratitude is rooted in memory.  It becomes evident when we consciously remember how others have helped us.  While Joseph was locked in Pharaoh’s prison he interpreted the dreams of the pharaoh’s former cupbearer, who was imprisoned along with him.   Joseph told him that he would soon be released and restored to the Pharaoh’s good grace.  Joseph had only one request of the man.  The request was that when the man’s dream came true he remember Joseph and mention his ability to interpret dreams to the Pharaoh.   But, as the text records, when the time came: “The man did not remember Joseph, and he forgot about him.”  The cupbearer failed to actively cultivate his memory.  In fact, because of that, he forgot about him.  How often are we guilty of doing the same? Perhaps, then, a s a corrective against our forgetting, try each day to remember at least one favor, one act of kindness that was extended to us –at work, at home…wherever.

Thanksgiving may be a fun time for family and friends to get together, eat a meal, and watch some football.  But, if that’s all it is, then we cheapen the day’s greater meaning. Gratitude – Thankfulness -- is a conscious act. And, as much as we need to receive thanks, you and I need to share our gratitude for how much the people in our lives enrich our world.   

So, here are a couple of questions for us to consider as we’re sitting around the table:

1.     How have I shown my gratitude for what I have, and who is, in my life 

2.     When was the last time that I did? 

I believe that reflecting on these questions will make the time we share on Thanksgiving all the more meaningful for everyone.