Lenten Reflection: Every Good and Perfect Gift

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights… James 1:17

This verse has been following me around for the past week and I am so heartened by these words!

And I’m thinking every good and perfect gift…
I always thought that meant every gift from God is ‘good and perfect’ but what if it also means every good gift, and every perfect gift?

Thanking God For It All

Like,  of course as Christians, we are quick to thank God when something important and perfect happens; a healthy baby is born, a loved one comes out of a successful surgery, or survives a car accident, or we experience a financial windfall, or a dramatic rescue.  But maybe this Scripture is saying, no, not just that stuff. Not just the perfect stuff, the okay stuff too.

Good AND perfect;  baby takes a long nap when you need it most, you make it through all the green lights when you’re  running late, you prepare that expensive steak to the perfect degree of doneness, the boss compliments your work when you’re having a tough day…. Even the small things we think are too silly to thank God for – there he is. Making it all work out to please you, give you peace, take away your negative thoughts, change a bad day into a good one.

Whenever anything small happens that is good, all the way up to when something enormously miraculous happens that is perfect, it always  comes from above.

Putting It Into Practice

Every year as Lent begins I get a feeling of, I don’t know, insufficiency, lack of fulfillment, even agitation with the typical fasting from meat, and giving up things like chocolate or potato chips, or watching too much TV. It  seems to ring false, as the years go by, with the sameness of it all, and the lack of any real change happening.

So for Lent this year my friend and I have decided to embark on a gratitude practice. We’re going to try, to the best of our abilities, to write down three things that we are grateful for every day during Lent.

I have done something similar before and it is extremely rewarding. It’s especially fun to go back, when I’m having a bad day, and look at the different things I was grateful for. It really brings joy and peace  to my heart and mind.

Give It a Go

If you decide to try this gratitude practice, you’ll find that as  the days go by, you will likely run out of the big, important ‘perfect’ gifts to thank God for. But everything that you are grateful for doesn’t have to be some big, deep, spiritual thing. I have thanked God for hot running water and a working furnace, on occasion.

It’s okay to thank God for the practical stuff too. The stuff we sometimes take for granted; the ‘good’ stuff…  short line at the grocery store,   invigorating workout at the gym,  a delicious meal, a beautiful flower in bloom outside your window…  for all these things we can show gratitude to God.

Because ultimately, if you trace it back, God is always the source of everything good. So, on many days we could be thanking God constantly. The old me, the cynical me, would have said this is ridiculous! I can’t walk through my entire day thanking God for every tiny little thing!
But now I think …really? Can’t I?

Practicing God’s Presence

Brother Lawrence, a monk from the 1600s wrote a little booklet called Practicing the Presence of God. In it he outlines how, as a kitchen worker at his  monastery, he  practiced God’s presence thanking him and being aware of him every step of his day. Every dish that he would wash, every counter that he would clean, every plate that he would serve; he would recognize that God was in it, and he would thank him.

Mother Teresa also practiced gratitude and God’s presence every day. One anecdote I heard was that she asked for an orange. And her friend, knowing that she preferred bananas, said wouldn’t you rather have a banana? And Mother said no, with a banana I can only thank God once as I peel it. But with an orange I can thank him as I separate and eat each section.

Mother Teresa and Brother Lawrence really lived  and thought and centered their whole day and their whole life around God. I wish I could do that. I aspire to that! Not all of us are cut out for that level of devotion, but I think we can all make an effort to be more grateful. To see God in every small and big thing in our life. To thank him. To praise him. To strive to do his will. Because his will is always going to be what’s best for us, and for those around us.

Let’s Get Started!

So how will this Lenten gratitude practice work out? I don’t know. But I am hoping for more appreciation for all that God has given me. And more insight and motivation to do what God wants me to do for others, with all the good and perfect gifts he has given me.

I’m pretty sure at some point I will be thanking God for the likes of indoor plumbing and other 20th century conveniences. And that’s okay. Maybe God just wants us to remember and contemplate who is responsible for all the good things. And all the perfect things,  big and small.
Spoiler Alert: It’s Him.

Some Suggestions:

-Try thinking of three things to be grateful for when you first wake up in the morning.
-Use a dedicated notebook or journal. It will be a reminder each day.
-Mostly we want to thank God for the big things. Try including one small thing each day. Or use a formula of some sort. Like, one serious thing, one practical thing, one overlooked thing.
-Don’t repeat yourself. Make it three new things every day.
-Give yourself grace. If you miss a few days, don’t give up or try to catch up. Just keep going.

Here is one of my own entries:

–Thank you Lord for your very Presence. Your ‘ever present help in times of trouble.’ You are always there for me, anytime, anywhere, for anything.
-Thank you for abundantly available food of all varieties. And the ability to procure it.
-Thank you for melting snow…spring is just around the corner!

Please join me in this Lenten Gratitude journey and let me know in the comments what you are grateful for, whether it is big or small.

For more on gratitude check out this post.