JOY COMES IN THE GIVING

Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides. ~Anne Lamott

Right after I got my driver’s license in high school, my parents would often send me on errands to the grocery store, the post office, or to pay the power bill (yes, we paid it in person!). I have a very clear memory of driving a friend home one day after school to a neighborhood in my own hometown that I had never been to before. So much of my childhood was going to the same stores, the same streets, and even the same bakery every Saturday morning. Driving this person home, I saw other parts of my own hometown that I never knew existed. My eyes were opened even in my own town to a whole new world. Self-awareness and perspective are gifts from God that lead to gratitude.

One of the reasons that churches and agencies continue to take mission trips is for the perspective that participants receive. Arguments have been made that it is more productive to spend the cost of the trip to the country or those in need rather than the cost, time, and energy to send missionaries. This is a fair point, but the one thing that is not gained is the perspective by those that travel and participate. To see firsthand a life so very different than your own can open your heart in ways that you never would have fully known had you not had these missional experiences. As a developed nation, witnessing a developing nation can in turn spark a level of gratitude that is motivating and radiates to those around you upon your return.

True gratitude often is born from our ability to have perspective and to hold deeply the blessings that we have in our lives. This deep sense of being grateful is not something that you can just hold onto as a secret treasure but it becomes a call to action and as Anne states, “makes you willing to be of service.” Gratitude is the first step in our life of faith, but the action that comes from it can change your own life and the lives around you. It is in the transformation of gratitude to action that joy resides.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Prayer

Dear God, help us to open our hearts to see the world around us. With our open hearts, may boundless gratitude fill our thoughts and prayers. And with this gratitude, help us to be agents of change in this world by helping those in need. For joy indeed comes in the giving. Amen.