Answer: Thankfulness is closely
related to gratitude, having a heart full for the blessings
one has received. When people say that they feel “very blessed” they
are giving thanks. They mean they are grateful for gifts received,
gifts for which they were perhaps undeserving. Grace/bounty/generosity
are just some of the many names and attributes of God. To show that God
is supreme in these attributes, we could say that God is “the most
gracious,” “the all bountiful,” “the most generous.”
I am grateful for our Creator without whom nothing would exist. Think
about the wonder of the universe and the gift of nature. Look up on
a starry night and marvel. The new physics tells us that the
universe—or universes—are infinite. No matter how much more the new
physics may discover about the origin of creation, whether “the
big-bang” theory is replaced by “the big bounce” or any other theories
scientists may devise, we will never get to the bottom of it. The
universe is an inscrutable mystery of God, and will remain so forever.
I am thankful for creation itself. It is the marvel of created
marvels.
What about mother nature? Did we create her? What did we do to merit
her beauties and bounties: the warming sun, the radiant moon, the
infinite panoply of stars, the vast, surging oceans, the towering
mountains, the land masses in all their infinite variety? These are all
things to be thankful for. I am thankful for the parents who gave me
birth and reared me, the same ones who gave me a thought of God early
on in my life, who taught me prayers and reverence in childhood, who
exemplified the meaning of love and integrity, and who taught me that
life, in the vision of God, has meaning and purpose. Most of all, I am
thankful for the Bahá’í Revelation, a superb religion that coherently
explains the connections and commonalities among the prophets and the
great world faiths, one that helps us to understand the crises of our
age, and that offers a coherent plan for the pacification and
unification of humanity. Much to be thankful for. -
Jack
McLean
