Praise and Gratitude

There is an old story about a tailor who visits his rabbi and says, “I have a problem with my prayers. If someone comes to me and says, ‘Mendel, you’re a wonderful tailor,’ that makes me feel good. I feel appreciated. I can go on feeling good for a whole week, even longer on the strength of one compliment like that. But if people came to me every day, one after another, hour after hour, and kept saying to me ‘Mendel, you’re a wonderful tailor,’ over and over again it would drive me crazy. It would soon get to the point where I wouldn’t want to listen to them anymore. I would tell them to go away and let me do my work in peace. This is what bothers me about prayer. It seems to me that if we told God how wonderful He is once a week, even once every few weeks, and just one or two of us at a time, that’s all He would need. Is God so insecure that He needs us praising him every day? Three times a day, morning, noon, and night? It seems to me it would drive God crazy.”

The rabbi smiled and said, “Mendel, you’re absolutely right. You have no idea how hard it is for God to listen to all of our praises, hour after hour, day after day.  But God knows how important it is for us to utter that praise, so in his great love for us, God is willing to tolerate it.”

There is something indeed about speaking praise and naming that for which we are thankful that changes our perspective. Gratitude always gives us a glimpse of the bigger picture. And, our prayers open our hearts to God and to others.

Let us pray: We do praise you, O God, for your creative power, mercy, and undying love. Thank you for the many blessings that flow into our lives every day. May we never fail to notice and may we never forget to give thanks. Amen.