When six-year-old Edward Bok left the Netherlands for America in 1869, his grandmother told him, “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.” Edward became very successful and very rich in his adopted country, but he never forgot the admonition of his grandmother. In the 1920's he decided to create a sanctuary for birds and people - a special place that would touch the soul with its beauty and quiet. A carillon tower with 57 bells became the centerpiece. It was Bok's gift of gratitude to the American people.
Good fortune and wealth presents a unique challenge. We can receive it with gratitude and use it to make the world a bit better and more beautiful; or we can look upon it as our entitlement to do as we please for our own benefit. Wealth, at what ever level, always brings with it greater obligations for gratitude and generosity. About the time that Bok was making his gift, Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote of the ‘roaring 20's’ - “Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul. Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss thy kingdom's goal.”
Gratitude is at the heart of a healthy faith. When we pray, our first prayer should always be: “Thank you, God.” But that is only the first step. When we have received something for which we can give thanks, we are called to humility in receiving the gift, we are invited to faithfulness in living with the gift, and we are challenged to generosity in sharing the gift.
It may seem easier to express gratitude in seasons of abundance and joy. But there is also a dimension of power, even mystery, when gratitude is expressed by those who have been through a lot and are still able to say, "I have so much to be thankful for." That kind of gratitude brings us into the very Presence of God. We are always more healthy spiritually when we pause to say, “Thank You, God.” For it is when we give thanks to God that we see the core of who we are. The truth is that, when we sort it all out, it is more important that we can be grateful for what we have, than it is to have a lot. It demonstrates a common life of gratitude and devotion, witness and service, celebration and discipleship.
Gratitude is not just about what we receive. It is also about what we give. And, anyone can give a gift of gratitude: a cheerful heart, a note, a heart-centered hug, a prayer of thanks, music of praise, a flower from the garden, an encouraging word, a smile, a quiet presence, and more. We have all been blessed by so many gifts. With our gratitude we can make the world a better place because we have lived in it.
I once had the privilege once of sitting on a sunny bench in ‘the gift of gratitude’ now known as the Bok Tower Gardens. As butterflies fluttered by and hawks soared above the tower, I listened to an hour long carillon concert and my spirit was refreshed. I received a gift from a man who never forgot what his grandmother told him when he was six years old: “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.”
As we enter the season of Thanksgiving, let us resolve to make it more than an interruption in the relentless march through the madness of a commercialized Christmas. Let us pause to give thanks. No, let us do more than pause. Let us resolve to make it a way of life to express our gratitude: for family and friends and all that makes life special - for life and health - for the capacity to endure when things do not turn out as we expected - for meaning and purpose and joy in life, and more - for the very Presence of God. And then let us resolve to respond to all that we have received with an act of sharing with others a gift of gratitude.
Just imagine what a wonderful world it would be if each of us sought to live up to the admonition of Edward Bok’s grandmother: “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.” That would be a gift of gratitude indeed!
The Rev. F. Richard Garland is a retired clergy member of the New England Annual Conference. This post is republished from his Facebook page.