Do we consistently acknowledge God to be the greatest source of our joy? Are we filled with discontentment over what we don’t have, rather than gratitude over what we do have? Do we thank God for problems we could have but don’t? (I have several medical problems, but I thank God every time I fill out a physician’s form and realize how few boxes I have to check on those pages of diseases and disorders!)

Luke tells of ten men whom Jesus healed of leprosy. Only one of them returned to say “Thank you.” Jesus asked the man a question that reflects the sadness God feels at our thanklessness: “What happened to the other nine that were also healed?” (see Luke 17:11-19).

Jesus then commended the only one who returned, saying, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). This is an example of healing—far greater than physical healing—that only comes through gratitude for God’s countless kindnesses to us. (We’ll never exhaust them, but the more we count them, the more grateful we’ll be.)

G. K. Chesterton, one of the happiest and cleverest minds of the twentieth century, noted that children are grateful when their Christmas stockings are filled with candy or toys. But what about “the gift of two miraculous legs” inside our stockings? “We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?”

The custom of praying to thank God for each meal is a wonderful one. But why should we restrict this custom to meals? Why not thank God throughout the day for a hundred other things?

Chesterton wrote,

You say grace before meals. All right.

But I say grace before the play and the opera, And grace before the concert and the pantomime, And grace before I open a book,

And grace before sketching, . . . boxing, walking, playing, dancing; And grace before I dip the pen in the ink.