Gratitude in Action

This film, called "The Story of Stuff," has been circulating among environmentalists for the past few years and can help us make sense of what's wrong with consumerist culture:

I would encourage you NOT to watch the whole thing for now, as it would distract from our discussion, but just focus on the footage from 10:37 to 16:45.

The tone is quite biting, but it nicely lays out some realities we live with every day but don't recognize. As  Ms. Leonard says, our economy relies on waste. The intent of advertising is to make us feel discontent with what we have so we buy more. Economic growth relies on waste of resources, on constant production for production's sake.


We live in this economy and culture, and even if we like to think of ourselves as non-consumerists, we may grow discontent with what we have when others around us are caught in buying new things. Culturally, we learn it's okay to throw away what we could fix and reuse. We could get frustrated with the system, like Ms. Leonard does, or we can learn to find our satisfaction with God, and being grateful for what He has given us.

What does it mean to give thanks to God? It starts with prayer. When a friend helps us out with homework after they had a busy day, our parents take care of some paperwork for us, or a professor gives us an extension on a paper, we say "thank-you." Doing so builds our relationship with the other person, recognizing that we rely on them. Likewise, prayers of thanks build our friendship with God. He bestows so many little blessings and gifts on us each day that we just don't notice, and when we acknowledge them it makes him so happy!

But this is just a start. In Matthew 25: 14-30, Jesus tells the parable of the servants and the talents. Read this passage slowly and place yourself in the shoes of the servants. Your master, who gives you the chance to work and provide for yourself, has given you a responsibility. He believes in you, and he trusts you with this money. Just because he is rich does not mean it is meaningless to him - he puts resources and effort into obtaining it. For now, you've been given these resources to use however you want, but someday, the master will want to see what you did with them.

The talents can be metaphors for an endless number of things we receive on earth: a warm place to sleep, clothing, an education, food, good health, solid friendships, connecting with one's grandparents and relatives, loving parents, intelligent and caring teachers, a welcoming community, the ability to a creative mind, the ability to make others laugh, the opportunity to travel, the freedom to go to church to worship God, and so on. These are just basic things, think of all the complex layers that make up a single day!

Telling God we are grateful is a start, but we show Him gratitude by using what we've been given to further His glory. After we die, we will stand before God like the servants upon their master's return, and He will want to see what we've been up to. Will we be like the servant with one talent, who tells the master he recognizes the value of what he's been given, but doesn't do anything with it? We show God our gratitude by how we treat what we have. For example, we can tell God we are thankful for our food, but we can show Him thanks by sharing the meal with a friend who forgot a lunch.

We also show our gratitude by fully using what we have, and not wasting it. For example, eating our vegetables rather than throwing them away. The parable of the servants shows us how to combat the "golden arrow of consumption" in the video. We can hop off the "work-watch-spend" treadmill if we put our happiness in knowing we are children of God, and not finding our worth in what we consume.

Acts of gratitude will become routine if we keep our hearts centered on God, and that stems from keeping Him close in prayer. We put forth the will to change, but it is God who sends His spirit to change us.