Gratefulness in Tough Times
Saying thank you makes the world better
by Ketan Alder
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To encourage us to express gratitude.
Preparation and materials
- None required.
Assembly
- Being grateful isn’t always easy. It can feel especially tough if we’re having a bad day or experiencing a hard time.
- However, expressing gratitude, even when we don’t feel like it, can help to redirect our attention to what makes our lives special. It can lessen our worries and strengthen our stamina. It can also help us to feel more connected to one another, which might help us to flourish together. Let’s consider why.
- First, let’s consider a question: if you gave a gift to someone and they hadn’t shown gratitude, would you stop giving them gifts, or ask that they return the gift?
Encourage the students to discuss the question in pairs or small groups. - Perhaps some of us said that we’d be tempted to stop giving them gifts. Others might have thought that, although showing gratitude is good, giving gifts doesn’t automatically require something in return.
- Receiving gratitude is nice, but there are other motivations behind us giving gifts. For example, we might give a gift out of kindness, or to brighten someone’s day. We might give something to express our friendship at a birthday, or to express our love at another time of year.
- It might surprise us, but gift-giving features often in the Gospels in the Bible, which provide accounts of Jesus’ life.
- For example, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus encounters ten ill people who are excluded from society because of their illness. In response, Jesus heals all ten of them and challenges their exclusion. However, only one of the ten returns to Jesus to express his gratitude.
The story continues by describing Jesus’ reaction. We might have expected him to recall his gift of healing from the other nine, or get in a grump and exclaim that he would never give similar gifts again. Instead, he tells the person who has returned that they can rely on him, by saying, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.’ - By reacting in this way, Jesus is implying that expressing gratitude, or not doing so, is not related to the gift-giving. The gift is given freely without expectations.
Jesus is also implying that God’s generosity and social conscience, which is sometimes called divine grace, comes with no strings attached. It will always be there without condition. Now that’s pretty amazing.
Time for reflection
Like the nine healed people who didn’t return to Jesus to give thanks, we can often be too distracted with other things to express gratitude.
We all take things for granted. These could be the gifts that surround us everyday, such as friends at school, someone being kind to us or friendship with a pet. Or perhaps they are larger gifts, like a healthy planet. However, whatever the gift is, taking a moment to notice and offer thanks helps us to see how the gift enhances our lives.
Expressing gratitude for both the little and the big things can help us not to take these gifts for granted. Like the person who returned and thanked Jesus after he was healed, perhaps gratefulness can help us too.
Prayer
Let us thank the Lord for every grace that we have received:
Our food and shelter; our health; the love that we have for one another; and our family and friends.
Let us look with confidence and hope to the future,
And let us ask forgiveness when we have harmed.
Amen.
