#247. Rev. David Hockett - October 23

Henri Nouwen wrote, “Gratitude… claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” Luke’s telling of the story of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19) points us in the direction of Nouwen’s observation. Ten are healed, one returns. It’s likely that all are grateful, but one seems to understand that all of life is a windfall, and that understanding changes everything.