When we express our gratitude, we say thanks - plural - and not thank - singular. Why is that? Gratitude multiplies. As we start to count our blessings, at the outset, particularly if we are feeling especially dejected or dissatisfied, we may feel that it will not take long at all. But as we begin to take stock of what an assumedly meager store of blessings we have, if we begin to feel genuine gratitude, that Spirit of thankfulness will help to change our perspective. Our eyes will be opened and we will see just how truly merciful the Lord has been and how abundantly He has blessed us. We may think it a very small blessing if we have to fly across the country in coach with the Wi-Fi not working and no good movies to watch and a baby near by that won't stop screaming and the person next to us hogging the armrest and the stewardess running out of peanuts before they get to us and the plane being delayed on arrival because the airport is backed up. However, if we do our best to still be thankful, then our eyes might be opened and we will realize that we made the trip in less than six hours, which would have taken six days by car or by train, or months and months if we had tried to travel the same distance by covered wagon and would have had to have faced much worse privations than not getting a bag of peanuts or not being able to get onto the Wi-Fi - things like dysentery and attacks by bears or getting snowed in at a mountain pass. We say thanks instead of thank because it would be impossible to express or to feel gratitude for only one thing. Once we start we will keep going and keep finding more and more reasons why we are so blessed. I am so grateful for the many, many things that I have to be thankful for.
