Ingratitude

Its a word my Favourite dictionary defines as, “forgetfulness of or poor return for kindness received”. I’ll say it’s, “anything short of gratitude”. I think I have more than my fair share of friends, and in my communication with them I’ve come to realize that it seems like we have a plague upon us, Its ingratitude. Its the reason some people known for niceness are now trying to not be nice; some others known for their generosity, tightening their fists, even people in the household of faith.

So this one is for those people I’ve talked with who have given up or are slowly giving up on being and doing good, either because their good wasn’t reciprocated towards them, or they were taken advantage of, or worse still for a few others their acts of kindness were met with ingratitude or at worst, Betrayal.

Firstly I’ll start by whispering that, you’re not alone, every single day people go through the ‘not getting the good they deserve’ episode. Contrary to what you think the world has always been liķe this, People were this Ungrateful, frustrated, and outright evil from as far back as the time of Jesus and before that too. Have you thought about it? who crucified him? Who brought the false accusation? weren’t they the same people who he healed, fed, ressurected, preached to, taught for days without end? At the very least the story of the ten lepers show that the probability of finding grateful people is approximately one in ten.

No one was born like this, we’ve let our experiences and that of others teach us these things, forgetting that we’re faith people and not necessarily experience people. We are letting bad situations and circumstances rob us of our humanity. I see older people speak of the good old days and I could almost see them sob comparing and contrasting what is obtainable today and what was in their day.

Truth be told an entitlement mentality has greatly fueled ingratitude and taken it to a whole new level as people seek favours not as the favours they are but as rights. This in itself is wrong, I think it’s the reason only a Samaritan leper deemed it appriopriate to say thank you to Jesus. It only add up that despite being healed of a disease that affected every aspect of their lives and relationship with others, They felt being descendants of Abraham it was a right and not something to be grateful for.

Why do we even do good? As Christians we’re saved unto good works, I highlighted unto good works because truth is we need to stop seeing being good as an option, but as a nature. The numerous stones thrown at the fruitful mango tree in an attempt to make its fruits fall to the ground doesn’t stop it from producing fruit. We don’t necessarily do good to impress God or anyone else, we do good because its in our DNA, God our father is good. Dogs Bark, Cats meow, Cows moo, Christians do good.

So in an ungrateful world we sow seeds of gratitude by just seeing everything as a privilege and not a right; as a gift and not remuneration. By thanking God for every single thing we get, by thanking the taxi driver even though we’re paying a fare because we cannot really pay people for services rendered as no price tag can be put on time, by thanking the waiter, our parents for even the things that are their responsibilities, by thanking our children for the things they do for us, even the ones that are their obligations.

We say thank you we make people feel good about themselves and the service they render or the job they do for us or the favour they show us, we make them know that they matter. We make them know that their contribution and/or benevolence is acknowledged and appreciated, you have no idea the number of people you meet each day that are in dire need of such validation. And also, more often than not in making people feel good about themselves we in turn feel good about ourselves

A Pastor once said, “If we do good for the sole purpose of receiving good, it is a business transaction not a good deed”.

In closing I’ll say do good, because you have been made good, Do good because you are like God and God is good, Do good just because you’re in a position to.