Nov 2024
MY CUP OVERFLOWS
Why Giving Thanks Is the Key To Our Well-Being
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.”
-Henry Ward Beecher
Writer A. J. Jacobs was sipping his morning coffee one day and letting his mind wander along the chain of people who were involved in bringing that steaming cup to his hands for him to savor. It turned out to be a very long chain−thousands of people−and, remarkably, Jacobs decided he needed somehow to thank them all. And to write a book about his journey to do so.
The journey begins in his local coffee shop, Joe Coffee, with his barista. Jacob thanks her as she tells him how grateful she is when customers make eye contact with her and don’t just growl their order while looking at their phone. Then Jacob arranges to meet the head buyer and taster for the Joe Coffee Company and thanks him. He calls up the inventor of the special lid on the cups used by Joe Coffee and thanks him. (The lid is designed for releasing aroma and easy sipping.) He calls up the maker of the Java Jacket—the sleeve on cups that keeps you from burning your fingers – and thanks her. He thanks people who roast beans for Joe Coffee as well as people who weigh and bag the beans. He drives into the Catskills and thanks people there who send fresh, good-tasting water to New York City for use in coffee making. He even travels to South America to thank Colombian farmers for growing the beans that the Joe Coffee Company will crush to make Jacobs’ coffee taste and smell so good every morning.
Along the way, Jacobs ponders the vast web of dependence we all live in. We depend on others for virtually everything we eat and drink, and we seldom pause to give thanks for them. As for our morning coffee, it gets to us in part because of all the people who use “motorcycles, trucks, boats, vans, pallets, shoulders, and forklifts.” Almost everything we buy in a store has been delivered there by a truck driver. Almost everything in a warehouse (think 150-pound bags of coffee beans) had to be forklifted into place on pallets. And somebody had to make the pallets. Somebody had to drive the forklifts that moved them.
The fact of the matter is that we all live in a great web of dependence. When we give thanks for our morning cup of joe, it does us well to remember this blessed web and give thanks for the people in it. And if we can’t thank them directly like A. J. Jacobs did, we can certainly thank their Creator. And we can let this reality of our inter-connectedness help us to savor and enjoy every gift which God sends our way.
Here’s a little exercise for you to try. Whether you are by yourself or in a place where others might hear you, try saying softly but audibly the word Thanks. If you are feeling really bold, this time pick up the volume and say “Thank You” in your regular voice. What emotions did this exercise illicit in you? Did you feel your soul expand or your spirit lift?
Now think of someone in your life for whom you are particularly thankful. Ponder for a few moments the “why” behind your gratitude for this person: what they did, how they helped, how they made you feel, how they made a difference for you. Now with that thought of this individual still floating in your thoughts, say again these two simple words “Thank You.” Do all you can to let these simple words carry the full weight of your appreciation for the person you are remembering.
Did you feel it? If you were paying close attention, it is possible that you experienced something ever so slightly – a subtle wrinkle in the spiritual fabric around you, a small ripple in the pond of your soul. This is the power of gratitude or having a thankful heart. Approaching life in this way opens our hearts fully and helps us to take in the love, the beauty, and the joy that is ours to possess in every moment and in all circumstances no matter how troublesome or problematic they may initially appear. Gratitude, or having a thankful heart, keeps blessings flowing into our lives. Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy if you like, but grateful people seem to attract blessings.
A recent study found that people who jot down what they are thankful for each week feel more optimistic about their lives, exercise more, and have fewer visits to the doctor than people who write down things that annoy them or even neutral events. There is something about the spirit of gratitude that is healing to both the body and the soul.
When University of Connecticut psychologist Glenn Affleck interviewed 287 people recovering from a heart attack, he discovered that people who found some positive benefit from the attack were less likely to suffer another attack within eight years. He recommends that each day we write down one or more things we are grateful for, and read the journal once a week.
Dr. Joseph Murphy agrees. In his book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind he describes a man who epitomized this kind of outlook on life. He says: “A number of years ago, I stayed for about a week in a farmer’s house in Connemarra on the west coast of Ireland. He seemed to be always singing and whistling and was full of humor. I asked him the secret of his happiness, and his reply was: ‘It’s a habit of mine to be. Happy. Every morning when I awaken and every night before I go to sleep, I bless my family, the crops, the cattle, and I thank God for the wonderful harvest.’”
Was this farmer always blessed with good harvest? No, but he did consider every harvest regardless of how large or small, a blessing. There is something about a grateful attitude that seems to cause blessings to flow into life.
Every one of us has something to be thankful for: our life; our friends; our church; our community; the opportunity to love and serve God; the good news that we’ve been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ! The blessings which God has showered upon us are too many to number. When we begin counting them and offering them up as praise to God, joy is bound to fill our hearts and bring a smile to our face.
Rich in God's Many Blessings,
Pastor Greg
