Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5
The movie, Shenandoah, is about a family during the civil war in Virginia. Jimmy Stewart played the role of Charlie Anderson, a cranky, self-sufficient farmer and patriarch of a large family. He had promised his now deceased wife that he would always say grace at every meal to show his gratitude to God for his blessings. However, it is unlikely that his understanding of “saying grace” was what his wife had in mind.
His prayer inevitably went as follows: “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it. We harvested the crops, and we fixed the food. We worked ‘til we were dog-boned-tired. None of this would be here if it weren’t for us, but we thank You anyway. Amen.”
One pastor referred to Charlie’s prayer as an example of a person who is hard of thanking. “This is a heart that is chronically discontent, complaining, judgmental, and dissatisfied. It is the heart of a person who lives with a demanding spirit and without any sense of awe or wonder. It’s the person who lives every day with a sense of entitlement. Ingratitude makes our hearts grow smaller, harder and colder day after day. For any number of reasons, such people have trouble being thankful and need help to see why.”
Psalm 103 helps the hard of thanking regain a sense of gratitude. Here’s how.
Intentionally remember your blessings.
The Psalmist says that we should “forget not all His benefits.” It’s not that we are intentionally forgetting the ways God blesses us. Instead we just don’t think about them. Over time, we begin to overlook the multiple ways that God enriches our lives. The Psalmist reminds us of some of the blessings we need to remember since God is the one who heals our diseases, redeems our life, crowns us with love and compassion and satisfies our desires with good things. By bringing these benefits to the forefront of our minds, our level of gratitude will increase.
Learn to give thanks for imperfect gifts.
How many of us have received an imperfect gift at some point? I know I have. When I was a youngster, I had a great aunt who gave me white tube socks every Christmas. This was during a time when it wasn’t cool to wear white socks. So each year the new gift of white socks would go in my bottom drawer on top of last year’s white socks.
We have all kinds of imperfect things in our lives. Think about it. How many of us would claim to have a perfect body? Live in a perfect house? Work at the perfect job? Have clothes that always fit perfectly? Eat perfect food? Have ever gotten a perfect haircut? None of us.
Yet we have the illusion that if only our lives were the way we think they ought to be, then we would be thankful. However, we know plenty of people who have much going for them who are still full of discontent. Thankful people know better. The Psalmist talked about sin, disease, being in the pit etc. Still his heart was full of praise to God. Learning to be grateful in the midst of imperfection helps us to overcome being hard of thanking.
Learn to appreciate the small things in life.
The Psalmist says to forget not all his benefits. Usually, we reserve gratitude for really big blessings while we neglect the small ones. However, the word “all” includes both large and small ones.
Commenting on this, Thomas Merton gave this valuable insight.
Gratitude is more than a mental exercise, more than a formula of words. We cannot be satisfied to make a mental note of things which God has done for us and then perfunctorily thank Him for favors received. To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us — and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is grace, for it brings to us immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder, and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference… Gratitude is, therefore, the heart of the Christian life.In closing, let me take you back to the movie, Shenandoah. At the end of the film, the Civil War has begun. Anderson tries to stay out of it but can’t. His son-in-law was called to active duty immediately after his wedding ceremony. His youngest son was taken captive by Union soldiers who think he’s a confederate. Fearing the worst, Anderson takes three of his other sons to go look for him. After one of the sons is shot and killed, Anderson gives up and goes home. There he finds that his wife and another child have been murdered while he was away.
Remnants of his family gather for a meal. He begins his prayer as always: “Lord, we cleared this land. We planted it.” He stopped and couldn’t go on. He realized he wasn’t really self-sufficient and saw his need for God. Then he remembered that it was Sunday. So he uncharacteristically, urged his family to go to church. During the service, the back door opened and his youngest son limped in wounded but alive. A tearful and joyful reunion broke out while the congregation began to sing the Doxology: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
Anderson grasped the meaning of the lyrics. His body was a gift. His children were gifts. The seeds he planted, the earth, the rain, the sun, and eventually the crops were gifts. Most of all he realized one more gift from God: the capacity for gratitude
Praise the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all his benefits.