The Benefit of Gratitude
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” — Psalm XCII. I.
He means, it is a good thing for us — it is a benefit to the mind. It prevents some great diseases. Let us take but one — the remorse of memory. Do you know what that is? It is something very different from the remorse of conscience. The remorse of conscience is the pain of having done wrong; but the remorse of memory is the pain of having failed to enjoy yourself. Have you ever felt that r Have you ever come to a time in which you looked back upon the past, and learned how little you had valued it? I know few moments so sore as that. To find that days were happy when the days are gone, to learn that I was passing through Elysium and I did not know it, to see the light on the hill only when it is setting — that is one of the saddest of all experiences to me, to you. It is the climax of pain when I must say with the poetess,
“Oh, while my brother with me played, Would I had loved him more!”
My soul, wouldst thou be free from that pain — that remorse of memory? Thou mayst be so; live in present thanksgiving! Count thy sunbeams now! Treasure to-day the gems that are strewn upon thy path! The love that is merely retrospective is a very painful thing. I would not have thee wake to the glory of a past only when it is past — desire one of the days of the Son of Man after He has ascended. If thy days of sorrow at any time should cloud thy days of joy, I should like thee to be able to say, “Well, while they lasted, I did appreciate them.’’ There are some who want to feel at death that their life has been a vain show. I would not have it so with thee, O my soul. I should like, when death comes, to feel that I had thoroughly enjoyed life — taken the honey from the flower as God meant me to take it.
I should like to know that I had not defrauded myself of my birthright, that I made room for others because I had had my share. It will be a great solace to me at twilight that I have basked with conscious joy in the heat of the day. Therefore I shall bask in it now. The cup of gladness which my Father has given me shall I not drink it, even unto the dregs! I shall thank Him for every bird that sings. I shall praise Him for every flower that blows. I shall bless Him for every stream that warbles. I shall love Him for every heart that loves. I shall see the sparkling of the cup ere it passes to the hand of my brother. There shall be no remorse of memory when I have thanked God for to-day.