A Reliable Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Spiritual Gratitude — Culture, Spirituality and the Gospel

The comedian, author and TV host Ben Stein says, "I cannot tell you anything that, in a few minutes, will tell you how to be rich. But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful. . . . It's the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme." We live in a culture where developing gratitude as an attitude is seen as being key to success.

Reading Ben Stien's quote one may presume that it is easier to develop gratitude than become rich. That would be wrong. Becoming rich could happen through any number of ways sometimes luck, sometimes hard work, mostly some combination of both. But gratitude takes discipline, it involves training our mind to see and respond to the world differently, and even to become a different person.

There are two types of gratitude

1.Gratitude that is about seeing positive things in life.

2.Gratitude that is about responding to negative things positively.

Normally we think of gratitude as form of power of positive thinking. Happiness Gurus ask us to write gratitude journals to focus on things we could be thankful for, so that our mind does not pay attention to the negative. Tim Ferris interviews successful people and a good number of them say they start the day with 3 things they are grateful for even if it is simple as the air they breathe. This is a superficial way of gratitude. I call this emotional gratitude.

Then there is a deeper form of gratitude which I call spiritual gratitude. This is the ability to respond to negative environments with gratitude. Henri Nouwen describes this well, "I can choose gratitude instead of complaint. I can choose to be grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart responds in bitterness... I can choose to listen to the voices that forgive and to look at the faces that smile, even while I still hear words of revenge and see grimaces of hatred." The key to Nouwen having this resilient gratitude is his ability to draw from a deeper source - to listen to a different voice and to see a different face. Because he can listen to a voice that forgives and see a face that smiles he is able to develop deeper reserves channeling them into gratitude.

How can one see the a smiling face instead of the grimace?

I think the answer is grace experienced in prayer. St. Teresa of Avila said, "prayer is us gazing at God looking back at us lovingly." This kind of Prayer is an experience of Grace. Grace is the fuel for spiritual gratitude which is resilient in the face of hostility. This kind of spiritual gratitude is deeper than the emotional gratitude that is fueled by self-effort. Emotional gratitude is good; it helps us to see the world differently. But spiritual gratitude is better, it changes who we are. Developing spiritual gratitude may not be a quick getting rich scheme, the way Ben Stein describes, but it is long lasting , because it changes us by deepening our friendship with God. Spiritual gratitude deepens the soul and enriches all life experiences, we become rich in our soul.