Subtle Graces

How grateful are you for the blessings you receive from God?

Then Jesus asked, 'Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?' Then he said to him, 'Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.' - Luke 17:17-19

In today's Gospel, Jesus questions one who returns to him after being healed.  Where are the others? he asks.

Were they not grateful for the grace that was bestowed on them?

It is easy to see in this extreme circumstance that all should have come back to thank Jesus and praise God, but what about the more subtle graces we receive every day?  Do we take the time to thank God for them?

When something big happens, when we are surprised and amazed at the wonder of God's grace, we are more likely to take notice and give thanks, as the one cured leper did, but what about the small stuff, the stuff we don't sweat?

Perhaps we think the small stuff that goes right is our doing and not God's.  But by showing us an example of something that is clearly God's grace, like curing the lepers, we have to stop and take notice.

I think the message of the story is a simple one.  All should be thankful for all the good that comes our way, for all of it is God's doing.

We can only believe that if we are willing to reduce the influence of our ego on our thinking.  If we do that, we can come to see all that God does each day as a gift, and we can be truly grateful.

So, today, I will not take God for granted.  I will be thankful for all that is and all that is given.

And maybe I will find subtle graces that I would otherwise have missed.

More to come...