thankfulness

There are all sorts of very real privileges that go hand in hand with being a parish minister.

Not the least of which is that of sharing with a family in a time of sore bereavement, and leading the service of worship to mark the passing from this earthly life of one who's been so dear to all of them.

It is, for sure, a privilege. Hard work, far from easy, and often thoroughly draining. Yes. That goes with the territory. But a privilege, very definitely.

This morning there was a service of thanksgiving along at the crematorium. The man who'd died was 92 and the chapel was filled to capacity - standing room only. There would have been a good 70 people present - perhaps a few more. Not bad for a man that age, and indicative of the esteem in which he was held and the impact that he'd plainly had on many folk.

When you reach that age most of your own contemporaries are no longer there. It's getting to be the last man standing sort of thing.

His grand-daughter read a poem: and his son spoke, too. Not an easy thing for either in the swirling of emotions in their hearts. But they both did really well. Another sort of tribute to a man they loved so much.

It was that sort of life that he'd lived, I think. People warmed to him. Family, friends, colleagues and neighbours - all alike were drawn to him.

My perception was that it all stemmed from his gratitude - an outlook and an attitude to all of life which at its core was thankful for the many varied blessings that he'd known. It does something to a person when there is that deep-seated sense of gratitude within. And it almost invariably warms folk to the person, too.

No wonder that we're always being exhorted to that gratitude ourselves.

"O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good:

his love endures for ever."

That latter line is the potent refrain that runs through every verse of one of the songs in the Bible. Line after line after line. Driving home this fundamental truth into our hearts. The Lord loves us. And his love is enduring and strong.

A multitude of different things each day bear witness to that love. And none more so, of course, than that supreme expression of his love - the giving of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those who know Jesus - they above all will be thankful.

To have been rescued and saved and delivered by God - how can a person be anything other than grateful? And how can each day be seen by such folk as anything other than truly a gift from the Lord?

Our whole perspective on life turns around when we cultivate this sort of gratitude deep in our hearts.

The tasks to be done, however routine and mundane, become an act of worship whereby our thanks is being continually offered up to God.

The challenges and problems that we face, however hard and tough, become, not one more cause for big complaint, but rather one more context for reliance on the Lord.

The whole of life is altered when there's thankfulness like that. We become the sort of people folk are glad to have around. Warm, uplifting, humorous, fun: kind, understanding, patient and true.

There's really nothing quite like being a part of such a fellowship where genuine, heart-felt gratitude to God is at the core of who folk are!