A Theology of Gratitude: How to find Health & Happiness?
In the book Thanks!: How the new science of gratitude can make you happier, the psychologist Robert Emmons explains interesting research findings about the importance of gratitude for human health and happiness. When someone gets a heart attack and then they spend their time blaming others - work stress or family situation or genetics or lack of healthy food options, they are likely to have a second heart attack in the next 8 years. On the other hand when someone spends their time expressing gratitude, the possibility of second heart attack is significantly lowered.
Science is clear that gratitude is key to well being.
Robert Emmons says gratitude which results in well being requires two pre-conditions
1)The gratitude has to be unearned.
2)The source of gratitude has to be outside of self.
Being grateful is not just about saying thank you to the waiter who clears your table at a restaurant. Emmons implies that when we thank someone for a service which they rendered in return for what we paid them, our psyche does not see this as gratitude which brings well being. It is merely being polite. Gratitude which brings well being is unmerited gratitude. A great quote which explains this unmerited gratitude the source of which is outside of self is from G.K.Chesterton
"The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?"
G.K.Chesterton saying "I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom," that is a reference to his original state of atheism. He said he became Christian, not by reading the bible, but by reading atheists because in their writings he recognized God's silhouette. It reminds of the writer Julian Barnes who says, “I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” Barnes speaks to the universal longing for a source goodness, love and beauty outside of self. Chesterton’s journey to Christianity started with his desire to find a mooring for his wandering gratitude.
A grateful heart is a heart which is sensitized to the move of God's spirit. This is why Paul tells a church facing persecution in 1 Thessalonians 5:15 to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". True gratitude is relational gratitude where the we have someone outside of ourselves to thank. Gratitude attunes us to God’s presence. God’s loving presence is the antidote to anxious times.
Relational gratitude is key to our health and happiness because we are wired for connection. Whether our past year has had ups or downs or been trying and thrilling, this Thanksgiving, let us be grateful for to each other and to God for giving us himself as a free gift inviting us to a life of fullness and freedom in Him!