We are so blessed.
Monthly, weekly, daily, and even hourly. Which is precisely the problem.
More often than I care to admit, I receive these gifts as if they were owed. Or worse, as if they were earned. For blessing, when it becomes constant, is normalized and quietly taken for granted. There are brief moments when I recognize the impossibility of my situation and find myself truly grateful for the grace I have received, but those moments tend to pass quickly. I move on, check the box, and return to my plans.
The Gospel of Luke tells a story on the topic that has stuck with me.
While Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, he came across ten lepers. Men who had been erased from normal life and now cried out for mercy to Jesus. Jesus acknowledged them and told them to go show themselves to the priests. As they went, they were healed and the reality of a restored body and future began to set in. However, only one of the then turned back.
“One of them, when he realized he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. ”
Imagine for a moment what that healing must have meant to those men. Years of separation, of being untouchable, and of shouting warnings instead of greetings. And suddenly you find yourself restored. What overwhelming joy they must have experienced.
And yet, nine kept walking.
I don’t think they were ungrateful, I think they were eager. Eager to get on with life and reclaim all that had been lost. Excited to rejoice and share the miracle with their family and friends. The healing solved their greatest problem so they continued on, assuming the story was complete.
But gratitude requires interruption. It asks us to stop walking, even when everything is finally going right.
I recognize myself there.
While I may take a moment in gratitude for a promotion, I am far less likely to do so for a paycheck. I thank God for deliverance from a moment of peril, but not always for provision. Yet blessings, no matter their size, still require acknowledgment.
“Let us praise God for the common mercies, for they prove to be uncommonly precious when they are once taken away.”
As I reflect on my life, I have more often been the nine than the one. I have found myself, healed, sustained, and provided for, then quietly continued on.
I want to be the one who turns back. Not because I lack urgency, but because I’ve learned that gratitude is not a delay to life, but the proper response to it. Healing allows us to keep moving forward, but gratitude reminds us where we’ve been, and who met us there.