Gratitude

This is just a quick thought.

Last week, my wife accepted the assignment to make dinner for a family whose wife/mother was in the hospital. I went along for the ride to take the dinner. I stayed in the car with the baby while my wife delivered the dinner. A father and his son were outside, and they graciously accepted the meal. They were both large, intimidating men, but their faces showed almost extreme appreciation and gratitude.

Far too often we feel like we are deserving of a favor or service when we are expecting it. Deserving and expecting and not the same thing, and this family's reaction reminded me of that. I know that I am not nearly as grateful as I should be... for anything, really.

If you want further reading on this subject, I discuss the grateful leper in my book Messages from the Scriptures. The story of the ten lepers has a different application of the same principle. (It has many lessons, of course, but this is one of them.)