Faith & Gratitude

This past summer at McLean Baptist Church we did a series of Sunday morning group studies titled ‘Kaleidoscope of Faith.’ I had the pleasure of presenting the last session of the series and the topic I chose was Faith & Gratitude. Some of the other sessions included Faith & Travel, Faith & Science, Faith & Storytelling and even Faith & Spies.

I began by giving this specific definition of what I mean by gratitude – the feeling you experience when you acknowledge having something that’s valuable to you and that came to you as a gift. Whatever it is, you did not get it through any kind of transaction and it’s not anything that you feel is owed to you.

The first slide in my presentation was the image at the top of this post. This is a picture my son took of me on the evening of 8/25/25 on the shore of Lake Anna at sunset. The view was particularly beautiful that evening and if you look closely, you can see the crescent moon that was setting behind the sun. As another person in our group moved closer to the water to get a different view I noticed his silhouette so I quickly gave my phone to my son and asked him to take a picture of me as I struck a pose at the water’s edge. Looking at this picture now I see myself in a posture of gratitude.

10 minutes of my presentation was showing this video, a Ted Talk from 14 years ago by Louie Schwartzberg on gratitude. It is filled with beautiful time lapse photography and is narrated by Brother David Steindl Rast. Here’s a quote from Louie – “Gratitude unlocks the beauty of life. It turns what we have into enough.” and here’s a quote from David – “It’s not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy.”

I also took a few minutes to point out the connection between remembering and gratitude. At some point in your life, someone taught you the spiritual disciplines that you practice today. That person may have been a leader, a friend, a grandmother, a pastor, or someone who is no longer with us. We should never forget them and the influence they’ve had on us. In the midst of the pace of work, errands, new friendships, and personal challenges, it can be easy to forget our roots.
Remembering is a form of humility and gratitude. We honor the efforts of those who have invested in our lives when we live with purpose, when we seek to grow, when we share what we learned. Today, think about the person or persons who left an imprint on your spirit. Perhaps it is time to write to them, to pray for them, or simply to give thanks in silence. Their influence is still alive in you, and now you can be that voice for someone else.

P.S. World Gratitude Day will be celebrated on Sunday,  9/21/25

This blog post is the expressed opinion of its writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tysons Interfaith or its members.