NOVEMBER 2019

One of the most famous Aesop's tales of gratitude is the Lion and Androcles. Androcles, a slave who was wandering in a forest, chanced upon an injured lion, which had a huge thorn stuck inside its paw. Androcles helped the lion by removing the thorn and gave the lion a new lease of life. Later, Androcles was captured, and thrown in a dungeon with a hungry lion. The lion rushed towards its victim, but it soon realized that Androcles was the same man who saved its life in the forest. The lion did not attack the slave. Instead, it licked his face like a pet dog and showered the slave with love. That's a simple story of gratitude that we tell our kids to remind them about the importance of gratitude.
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.

But how many of us truly remember to express gratitude? In the daily humdrum of life, you forget to thank the neighbor who keeps a watch on your kids when you need to be away at work. You forget to thank the teacher, who stays back after school to help you with your school projects. You fail to express gratitude to your parents, who have immensely contributed all through your life. And who remembers to thank the librarian, the banker, the plumber, or the garbage pickup truck driver?

Gratitude should not be merely customary politeness. It should reflect a deep humility and love that we feel towards one another. Saying, 'thank you' is just the beginning of expressing gratitude. To make gratitude go a long way, you should give back in any way possible. Just like the lion in the story.
When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?

This is the finest measure of thanksgiving: a thankfulness that springs from love.
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

Being thankful has many benefits. A thankful heart has no place for arrogance, resentment, jealousy, or anger. You will often find that people who express genuine gratitude have a pleasant and amiable personality. When you express gratitude, you make friends. When gratitude is accompanied by a generous word of praise or two, relationships thrive. Also, a grateful person can hope to gain more favors in the future from his generous friends.

Thank God every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.

Gratitude is not a spiritual or moral dessert which we may take or push away according to the whims of the moment, and in either case without material consequences. Gratitude is the very bread and meat of spiritual and moral health, individually and collectively. What was the seed of disintegration that corrupted the heart of the ancient world beyond the point of divine remedy...? What was it but ingratitude?

The story of gratitude in Aesop's fable about the lion and the slave is a moral lesson where kindness and generosity triumphs. Even today, when the world is plagued by natural calamities people rise above these challenges with kindness. Teach your kids the importance of gratitude with these Thanksgiving thoughts. Sow the seed of gratitude in their heart early in life, so that they can grow up to be humble and appreciative human beings.