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Gratitude, thankfulness, is the primary reflection and response of the imago Dei to God our Creator in the Genesis 1:26-27 act of creation, for God is love. To image -- in a sense, to mirror -- God cannot be but a wholehearted expression of gratitude for the imago Dei. All subsequent expressions of thanksgiving in a fallen world are gifts of God's grace, which are offered to be accepted or to be denied. All lack of expressions of thanksgiving are acts of rebellion -- not simply forgetfulness or other lack of virtue -- against God our creator. The context is made brilliantly clear by Jesus when He answered the question about the Greatest Commandment and "the second" (Matthew 22). Therefore, true gratitude is not simply a difficulty or a problem but an impossibility apart from the grace of God received by faith. Or as Jesus put it, "Apart from me ...." We know the rest of that verse, but frankly, you don't believe it, do you, my friend?

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Thanks from Joyful

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Thank you, it was a thoughtful essay on gratitude that I enjoyed reading.

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founding

Mark, there is much to ponder here. Prayerfully asking God for grace gently turns us toward Him and away from the world. Asking for this grace over and over pries our attention away from that which is not-good, not-true, and not-beautiful. My grade-school teacher, Sister Miriam, set great store by avoiding any "occasion of sin". That was much more helpful than just trying, with all my might, to be good or grateful. By identifying those people, places and things that were starving my soul I could take the next step; I could begin to replace them with ones that were nourishing and healthful. God Bless.

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Great topic. Gratitude requires faith. As one man said we call things that are not, as though they were, until they are ! Today the gospels simply say your sorrow will turn to joy.

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