by R. Herbert | Nov 26, 2014 | Gratitude
“Surely you have granted … unending blessings…”
Psalm 21:6
Normally, we speak of “counting our blessings” when considering the many good things with which we have been blessed. But for many of us privileged to live in areas where those good things are abundant, “calculating our blessings” with the help of an adding machine or calculator may be more appropriate!
In fact, perhaps the analogy is one that holds true for all of us. This is because when it comes to looking at the blessings we have been given, it is very human for us to look around at what we have in the here and now. Yet when we look back and consider the blessings we have enjoyed over time, for so many of us the numbers begin to require calculating help.
Our perspective begins to change when we realize that many of the things we may take for granted are only occasionally enjoyed by a large percentage of Earth’s population. Think, for example, of the statistic that if we can afford to eat three meals a day for three weeks in a row, we are among the top 15% of the richest people in the world. Even if they are not starving, we should realize that the majority of people in this world do not get food all the time. But if we take our three meals a day, getting out a calculator and multiplying that number by the number of days in our lives might help us better realize the number of blessings in our lives – in that one area alone.
But the same truth applies in so many areas. The doctor’s and dentist’s visits we may grumble about having to fit into our schedules seem different when we realize the very occasional access so many have to medical or dental care – if they have it at all. If we have a steady job, the number of days for which we get paid adds up quickly compared to those without or unable to work – time for the calculator again. And what about the gift of life itself? The resting human heart beats some 60-80 times per minute. If we try to multiply that rate by a day, a year, or our lifetime so far, we definitely need that calculator.
And so we could go on. But the point we are talking about here is obvious enough. For those of us in the United States who wish to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a genuine spirit of thankfulness, we should remember to look further than only at the blessings that surround us on the Thanksgiving table. Sometimes we look around in times of economic downturn or other problems and feel less thankful because we only see the things we have now when we should perhaps try to look more at the blessings we have been given all the way to this point, and the many more that we trust lie ahead.
Perhaps it would be good, as we take stock of what God has given us on the Day of Thanksgiving, to do a little math regarding any one of the ongoing blessings we enjoy. We don’t really need to get out a calculator to try to add up the huge numbers of blessings we all have received, but then again, I may put a calculator on the table this Thanksgiving meal – just to remind myself that if I tried to add up all those blessings I would need it.
by R. Herbert | May 11, 2014 | Gratitude, Prayer
Have you ever noticed that the “Lord’s Prayer” – the model prayer outline given by Jesus to his disciples (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4) – does not contain any word of thanks? This might seem strange, but context probably explains it. The disciples knew that it was certainly Jesus’ custom to give thanks. We see examples of this not only in his giving thanks for food (Luke 22:19), but also in the thanks included in his other prayers (for example, Luke 10:1).
When we look at the outline prayer Jesus gave, we see (especially in Luke’s narrative)that the context was one of things for which we should ask (Luke 11:9-13). We can presume that knowing Jesus’ own example, the disciples would understand that rather than a separate point of thanks in prayer, every request would be made with thanks – both for help already given in that area and in faithful expectation of God’s continued help.
As the apostle Paul wrote, we should: “… not be anxious about anything, but
in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6, emphasis added). Our attitude of prayer should clearly be one of: “Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Such an attitude of thankfulness follows the example of Jesus himself and explains why the “Lord’s Prayer” has no separate point of thanksgiving.
Want to learn more about how and what we should pray? If you haven’t already read them, take a look at our articles on the following subjects:
Before You Ask
Another Look at the Lord’s Prayer
When Prayer Is Unanswered
Do We Pray “Without Ceasing”? 
by R. Herbert | Apr 26, 2014 | Gratitude, Leadership
In his classic survey of intelligence gathering, The Craft of Intelligence, Allen W. Dulles, the first civilian head of the CIA, gave an interesting anecdote about George Washington.
During the Revolutionary War, Washington apparently gained a great deal of usable intelligence from a veritable army of private citizens – tradespeople and professional men and women of all walks of life who lived in New York where the British were headquartered. Because of their trades or other reasons, these people had daily contact with the British, often passing themselves off as Tories in order to obtain the British officers’ confidence and to have a better chance to listen to their conversations.
One of those many spies was Hercules Mulligan, a tailor who developed a large clientele of British officers. Because of his work for the British, Mulligan’s neighbors presumed he was indeed a Tory or British sympathizer. As a result they made life difficult for him during the period of British control, unknowing as they were that he was actually passing important information to General Washington.
After the conclusion of the war, the reputations, livelihoods and even the lives of many such people may have been threatened by Americans who did not take kindly to those believed to have been sympathizers and collaborators. But Mulligan was spared such unjust treatment.
On the first morning of Washington’s return to New York after the war was over, it is known that the General made a point of stopping at Mulligan’s house and, doubtless to the great surprise of Mulligan’s neighbors, having breakfast with the tailor. Washington’s simple yet deeply thoughtful action probably saved the tailor a great deal of unpleasantness at the very least, as his neighbors now understood that rather than being a sympathizer, Mulligan was, in fact, a patriot.
Washington was by many accounts a God fearing and believing man, but whether his action toward Mulligan, and likely those toward others who had helped during the war, was based on Christian concern or simply what his age called “common decency” we do not know, and it is really immaterial. Whatever his motives, Washington’s action truly helped a man who had helped him and who might now so easily have been forgotten in the General’s return to New York. It’s really an anecdote with a moral, a story that can serve as a lesson.
Do we take the thought and time to properly thank and look out for those who have helped us? Perhaps the stakes are not so high in our everyday relations with others, but sometimes a little thought will make it clear to us how others have in fact sacrificed to help us. Taking the time to think that fact through and to act on it when we can is a form of gratitude that goes well beyond simply being appreciative of what others do in helping us.
by R. Herbert | Apr 13, 2014 | Gratitude
Are we really aware of the abundance that many enjoy in the developed world today – compared not only to less fortunate areas, but also compared to the past? A fascinating but little publicized study conducted at Cornell University a few years ago throws light on the growing abundance which many of us may take for granted.
In a careful study published as “The Largest Last Supper: Depictions of Food Portions and Plate Size Increased over the Millennium” in 2010, researchers Brian and Craig Wansink analyzed the amount of food depicted in 52 paintings of “The Last Supper” produced over the last millennium. Each painting was analyzed in order to ascertain the content of the meals depicted and changes which occurred over time in the kinds of food and the size of portions in the paintings. Cleverly, the sizes of the loaves of bread, the main food dishes, and the plates were all compared to the average size of the heads shown in the paintings in order to gain a benchmark reference. A computerized CAD-CAM program was used to allow selected parts of the paintings to be scanned, then rotated in order to get accurate size comparisons to calculate the food portion sizes with more precision.
As the researchers suspected, the number and size of the food portions in these paintings increased dramatically with time. From AD 1000 to the present, the amount of food depicted in the paintings increased 69.2%, and the size of the depicted plates increased 65.5%. This is certainly not a matter of chance, the researchers say. There is no question that the amount of food available to people in much of the Western world has grown dramatically over the hundreds of years covered by this study, and this is reflected in artistic representations. What was first shown as a simple meal has grown in artistic interpretations to more recent depictions of the Last Supper which suggest almost feast-like proportions compared to earlier paintings.
Today, many of us enjoy much greater abundance than our ancestors, as well as those less fortunate than us in other parts of today’s world. Representations of the Last Supper can remind us that we have much to be thankful for physically, as well as spiritually.
by R. Herbert | Mar 2, 2014 | Gratitude, Relationships
Every year Hollywood, the US, and even many around the world turn to the Academy Awards ceremony to see credit being given to leading actors, actresses, directors, producers and a host of others who work behind the scenes.
Not only are the awards intended to give credit, but those receiving them frequently take a great amount of time, while basking in the spotlight, to thank everyone who supported their work – and if you have ever watched them, you know that sometimes means everyone.
This giving of credit is all well and good to a point, though it can often seem artificial under the stage lights when we compare how infrequently we tend to give credit to others in real life situations.
But there is plenty of biblical precedent for giving appreciative credit to others in our daily lives. A great example is found in 1 Samuel where David insisted that all who had helped him in a military campaign should receive credit and proper reward. Speaking to his followers who wanted to give credit only to those directly involved in the fighting, we find:
“David replied ‘No, my brothers … The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.’ David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this” (1 Samuel 30:23-25).
Not only did David credit all who had taken part in the campaign, but also, when he reached Ziklag, he sent some of the captured goods to the elders of Judah in recognition of their support, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies” (1 Samuel 30:26). Further, Samuel tells us, David sent some of the spoil to a great number of towns in the kingdom recognizing their help and support. The list is long (and almost Oscar like!) as David gives credit to:
“…those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak and Hebron …” (1 Samuel 30:30).
Notice that even this long list is not complete as vs. 31 adds “and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.”
So David used the opportunity to give credit not only to all who had helped him directly or indirectly in his campaign, but also to all of his friends and supporters who were not even involved – but who had supported him to that time.
It’s a point worth remembering. David gave credit widely and generously. It was clearly part of his character and something we can remember in our own relationships with the people with whom we live and work. There is also another side to this. If we conscientiously pay attention to giving credit to those who have helped us or worked alongside us in any of life’s endeavors, we will perhaps be more likely to be aware of, and to give credit to, the One who so often helps us behind the scenes and to whom credit is always due!
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