The Very Rev. Canon Barbara Price, Rector   St. Peter's, Eggertsville 

This week's mail brought one of the most extraordinary letters I have ever received. It was a gratitude list from someone who had experienced a recent traumatic event and resultant injury.

The letter was a thank you note to all the people who had been a helping presence to this person at the time of the event and afterwards, during the period of recovery. Each notation began with the words, “I am thankful for . . .” And I must tell you that opening and reading that note was one of my moments closest to Christ during this past week.

St. Paul writes these words in I Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The letter I received this week was an example of someone following that teaching.

St. Paul does not say give thanks for all circumstances. . .” That would be macabre. However, insofar as we are able to find reasons to be thankful in the moments of our days, we can begin to know serenity, joy and peace of mind "for that is the will of God in Jesus Christ for us.”

What actually happens when we adopt an attitude of gratitude is that our body chemistry changes. another way of saying this is that negative energy attracts negative energy; positive energy attracts positive energy. As we dwell on what's wrong, gradually over time we diminish our own capacity to see good.

The media panders to our addiction to negativity, by the way, so I sometimes find it helpful to fast from the TV and/or other news media from time to time and to focus on more positive input from other sources. Because it is also true that the more we focus on what's going right, on counting our blessings, the greater our capacity to see and experience the good. Norman Vincent Peale wrote about this in The Power of Positive Thinking. More recent works like The Secret have capitalized on this wisdom teaching originally found in our Holy Bible. All 12-step programs teach this truth as foundational to recovery—not because it's easy, not because it's natural, not because we want to do this in our fallen human nature, but because it works. 

Elsewhere in Scripture, St. Paul talks about training our spiritual muscles in much the same way an athlete prepares to run a race. If a person starts exercising after years of being a couch potato, the body rebels—its aches, it hurts, it doesn't feel normal—but after a while, if the person sticks with it, the muscles gradually strengthen and the exercising not only becomes easier, it becomes second nature, something essential to one's health and well being. So it is with spiritual exercise. The more we do it, the stronger we become. The stronger we become, the better able we are to resist temptations of all kinds, including the temptation to miss the blessings and goodness in our lives.

I am thankful to have received that letter; I am thankful for the presence in my life of the person who wrote it; I am thankful to be alive today writing this article; I am thankful for the blue sky and green trees outside my office window; I am thankful for the cup of coffee on my desk; I am thankful for my ministry at St. Peter's and for my family. . . You get the idea.

Make your own gratitude list today, and when temptation comes and you'd like to complain and feel cynical, stop and find five things, just five things, to be thankful for in the moment. Start by being thankful that you can see to read (many in this world are unable), and go from there. . .