As a part of our four-week series on “Rethinking Stewardship: Stewardship as Discipleship,” we spent this past weekend considering stewardship as an act of gratitude. Mirroring the story of the 10 lepers, one of which returned to offer thanks and praise to Jesus, we highlighted how gratitude is more than something that “should” be done. Gratitude is an echo, a response, to the ways in which we have experienced the grace, the life, the healing, and the forgiveness offered to us through Christ.
The more we live in these gifts of Christ, the more we are attuned to their work in our lives. And the more we are attuned to their work in our lives, the more we are naturally inclined to return to our Lord in praise and thanksgiving.
So this week, before even thinking about what you’re grateful for, first, consider where and how you have experienced Christ’s grace in your life (past or present). How have you experienced forgiveness? A second chance? Reconciliation? Healing? Community with Christ and with others? Recall these moments as gifts from Christ, and as you’re led by the Spirit, offer your thanks and praise for all that God has done, and continues to do, through you.