The Gift of a Grateful Heart (GH Day 22)

An appropriate poem for the Thanksgiving holidays is George Herbert’s “Gratefulness.” Here are stanzas 1-2, 4, & 7-8 from Christian Classics Ethereal Library:

Gratefulnesse

THou that hast giv’n so much to me, Give one thing more, a gratefull heart. See how thy beggar works on thee                                               By art. He makes thy gifts occasion more, And sayes, If he in this be crost, All thou hast giv’n him heretofore                                               Is lost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Perpetuall knockings at thy doore, Tears sullying thy transparent rooms, Gift upon gift, much would have more,                                               And comes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wherefore I crie, and crie again; And in no quiet canst thou be, Till I a thankfull heart obtain                                               Of thee: Not thankfull, when it pleaseth me; As if thy blessings had spare dayes: But such a heart, whose pulse may be                                               Thy praise.

Herbert begins by calling himself—particularly his entreaties for a “grateful heart”—a “beggar,” the antecedent for the pronoun “he” of stanza 2. The logic of stanza 2 is that if God gives gifts to the speaker but does not give the speaker a heart of gratitude, there might as well have not been any gifts at all: “Gift upon gift” (stanza 4), yet these are never enough unless they are accompanied by the gift of gratitude.

Martin Luther's Seal

Herbert acknowledges in this poem that all good gifts come from God (James 1:17), including the ability to be thankful. He plays with this idea throughout by picturing a believer who not only asks, but begs God incessantly for this ability. He also reminds us that an attitude of gratitude is one of the greatest gifts of all.

The final stanza delivers a twist: Herbert wants to have a thankful heart at all times, in all circumstances, not just when things are going well and he feels grateful. To have a pulse of praise flowing through one’s body, pumped through it by a grateful heart and enlivening one’s soul: that lifeblood would be a gift indeed!  

Who’s in Charge Here? (GH Day 21)

Last week I brought the film Signs (by M. Night Shyamalan) into my class and showed a particular scene that illustrates the film’s central question: Is all that happens just coincidence, or is there purpose? Put another way, are we on our own in a world of chance happenings, or is there Someone who is guiding things for a purpose?

The main character, Graham, is a former Episcopal priest who has left the Church and is angry with God because his wife has died in a freak car accident. At this point in the film, alien activity has been observed around the world, and people are understandably anxious. Graham and his family—his children and younger brother, Merrill—are holed up in their farmhouse, trying to decide how to respond to the alien arrival.  

Graham divides the potential responses into two groups of people: Group 1 thinks that what happens is more than coincidence. “Deep down,” explains Graham, “they feel that whatever’s going to happen, there’ll be someone to help them, and that fills them with hope.” For Group 2, however, all is just chance, a 50/50 possibility: it could be good; it could be bad. “Deep down,” says Graham, “they feel that whatever happens, they’re on their own, and that fills them with fear.”

“What you have to ask yourself,” concludes Graham, “is ‘what kind of person are you?’” and “[i]s it possible that there are no coincidences?”

“So which type of person are you?” asks Merrill.

“Do you feel comforted?” Graham responds.

“Yeah.”

“Then what does it matter?”

Merrill is disappointed, because the answer does matter and it matters what we believe. Is there a purpose to what we encounter in our lives, or will it at least be used for a good purpose? And is there a God who will guide us through the adversity, providing help and hope?  

In “Longing,” George Herbert’s poem of suffering and complaint, he acknowledges that “[t]o Thee help appertains,” yet questions,

“Hast thou left all things to their course,

And laid the reins

Upon the horse?

Is all lockt? hath a sinner’s plea

            No key?” (43-48)

Huntington Library, CA

So, we know that God is the source of all help, yet sometimes it feels like no one’s holding the reins of the world, and things (usually bad) just happen. Is anyone in charge here, guiding, directing, controlling the world (more generally) and my life (more personally)? This is the first question the poet wrestles with, while the second is if God is in charge, when I call on Him for help, why can’t I seem to get through to Him? Why won’t He answer me and provide help?

Unlike most of his poems, in “Longing,” Herbert does not find an answer, or even a resolution, to the latter question about God hearing and responding. He does, however, provide an answer to the first question:

  “Indeed, the world’s Thy book,

Where all things have their leaf assign’d;” (49-50)

All is not left to chance and coincidence. There is purpose: the world is God’s book. He is writing the story, and that can fill us with hope. Look for the signs.