Being Thankful – A Forgotten Art

Being thankful stands in stark and debilitating contrast to entitlement. If we sense that we are entitled to something, it is then presumed to be ours by right. If it is ours by right, then there is no legitimate need to be thankful for it. Our overriding mentality and our general orientation to life becomes marked by a sense that we are owed, and because we are, anything we receive is only what life is obligated to grant us.

When we embrace this unbearably diminishing mentality, we lose the sense that life is thoughtful gift and the opportunity to live it is a rich privilege. We carelessly trudge through life in a rather slovenly manner, taking what we will out of a sense that all of this is rightfully ours rather than understanding that all of this is entirely a gift that we are privileged to enjoy.