“Take your life and give thanks for it, all of it.”
“Abundance grows out of gratitude.”
Both of these quotes are brought to you by Fr. Darrell Venters. His homily this Sunday was short, but intense. The readings reflected the loaves and fishes. But Father decided to talk about gratitude and I’m glad he did. He told us that at the last supper Jesus gave us his body and blood, out of gratitude and that we should do the same. The point that I liked especially was his comment “all of it”. Father said the good and the bad.
Jesus was human. He had some of the same issues we have. He had doubt. He had joy. He had love. I’m sure there were people he didn’t like although he loved everybody. Jesus was just as human as you and me.
I’ll bet there were days he didn’t want to get out of bed. I’ll bet there were days he couldn’t wait to get out of bed. I have those days. Anymore though I can’t wait to get out of bed more often than I don’t want to get out of bed. I don’t know why. It probably has something to do with the sun being up.
I’ll bet there were days Jesus was nothing but hungry. I’m not sure he loved food as much as I do but I do know that eating a meal was social for him. My favorite meals are social for me. I just love going out to eat and having a good conversation. Jesus seemed to like that too. Think about the loaves and fishes. He didn’t want the crowd to disperse so he told the apostles to feed the crowd themselves. He knew that good conversation was going on and there was no reason to interrupt that for a meal.
I’ll bet that Jesus didn’t care one minute about what he was going to wear each day. I don’t worry about that either. I wear the next thing in my closet. Sometimes I get put out because I never wear the things in the back of my closet. So then I’ll change direction.
I’ll bet that Jesus was in a bad mood sometimes. In fact, I know that he was. I’m sure he was snarky sometimes. I can be snarky. There are lots of times that I’m in a bad mood. But then there are times that I’ll force myself to change my mood. I may call a friend or eat chocolate. I know ways to get me out of my bad moods. I think Jesus used being in a bad mood a lot of times to prove a point. I usually don’t do that. Usually my bad moods are brought on by other people, lack of sleep, or because I’m hangry. I get hangry a lot.
I’ll bet that Jesus was all about his relationship with people. I love developing relationships with people. That’s probably one of those things that I’m really good at. It’s probably one of those things that I don’t think twice about. Jesus didn’t think about it but I’ll bet you he has looked for opportunities to build a relationship with people. In fact, even today he is looking to build relationships with people: some that he knows and others that have never met him.
I try very hard to be open to what God wants from me. Some days he tells me specifically while other days he leaves it to me to figure it out. Sometimes he puts people in my path to set me straight. I value those people so much more.
Sometimes Fr. Darrell’s homilies are funny. He brings the point home in a funny way. Not this day. I could feel my face paying very close attention and trying to understand exactly what he was saying. I asked my family at breakfast what they thought about Father’s sermon and they just shrugged their shoulders. I wanted to call them out on it and tell them that I knew that they didn’t get it. But I decided that Jesus wouldn’t do that and I’m going to try really hard to be so much more like Jesus. I’m grateful that I grasped a little bit of Father’s sermon and I hope that I can pass that abundance and gratitude on. And each day I hope that I can take my life (the good and the bad) and give thanks for it. Because I do have a pretty great life.
Cynthia Elder
Logos from the Pew 