Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18

The above painting was inspired by gratitude around having a birth defect that had plagued me for years and fixed through surgery. Six years later I am grateful each morning that I walk without pain. This is my version of an often told story of gratitude.

One version is told about a runaway Greek slave who pulls the thorn from the lion’s paw. Later the slave was imprisoned and sent to Rome to be lunch for a lion. The creature who was to make a meal out of him turned out to be the lion he had helped. The lion showed his gratitude by not eating him. The slave was freed and traveled with the lion and the two became local celebrities.

This story has been told in different ways over the centuries but the idea of an unlikely friendship of opposites forged from gratitude remains a consistent theme. And the relief of suffering seems to be a common backdrop to gratitude.

While we generally avoid suffering somehow it comes to us all in some form. Maybe one of the meanings we can extract from suffering is to be grateful for those who help us through it. Or we can be thankful when it stops. It seems that some of the least grateful people are some of those who have not yet suffered.

Gratitude, which comes from the Latin word gratea, which means grace, graciousness or gratefulness, is a necessary component of emotional and spiritual maturity.

When we focus on gratitude we are appreciating what is good in our lives instead of focusing on what is deficient. In addition, we come closer to the source of our blessing which for believers always includes God.

Benefits of gratitude are many, including more and deeper positive emotions, greater happiness, better capacity to deal with adversity, better work and personal relationships, fewer doctor visits and overall better health.

However, eternal benefits of gratitude are a deeper bond with God. It can change our attitude from resentment and anger about deprivation to peace and joy. Suffering can be beautifully framed by gratitude around the kindness and good things that surround the pain. God allows suffering but also wants us to look at the entire situation. My deformation and healing experience has been an important shared experience between me and my God, one of my many spiritual treasures.