Gratitude

Gratitude is one of those things that I'm really good at expereiencing/feeling, but am really lousy at expressing--which is actually the most important part, the rest is pretty useless without that.

When someone performs an act of kindness--being given a gift; being brought a glass of water by a waitress on a long day (better: being brought a few refills on that and a coffee cup that never gets empty); being paid a compliment--far too often the words "thank you" or "thanks" just don't seem to get the job done. There's a sense of obligation, or debt, that comes along with it--but it's a welcome debt; unlike, say, medical bills or student loans. Somehow that debt has to be repaid.

Seems to me that if charity and generosity are attributes that the Christian is to display, half of that needs to be the ability to respond correctly to charity and generosity. Exacty how you get better at that is the question I'm dealing with.

This meandering was inspired by an act of charity and kindness. I'm sure the man that inspired it knows who he is (he is pretty clever). And he knows what a woeful job I did of expressing it. Sorry. I'm working on it.