A king once met a sage on a hunting trip to the forest. Since he was very impressed with the sage, the king took him along to the palace. The sage agreed to go with the king with a condition that the king would let him go back to the forest. When they reached the palace, the king began to show the sage the grandeur of the palace. The king could not understand why the sage preferred to stay in the forest abandoning all these riches. He thought that seeing all these pomp, the sage would stay back in the palace and enrich his governance with his wise counsels.
After seeing all the grandeurs of the palace, both of them reached the prayer room. As soon as the king entered the room, he began to pray in a loud voice. His prayer was full of needs and petitions. He prayed for the enlargement of his kingdom, more wealth and a long life. Before the king could finish his petitions, the sage left the prayer room. Astonished, the king followed him.
“What happened to you? Didn’t you like my prayer?” the king asked, feigning humility.
“I thought you were a rich man. But, when I heard your prayer, I understood how poor you are!” the sage replied.
“Poor? Me?” the king did not like that remark.
“Yes. You are a poor man. Without thanking God for all these great riches He has given you, you are placing a list of petitions before Him. Are you not poor?” the sage asked the king.
Most of us are like the king of this story. We have so much riches. Nevertheless, we are not content with them. We crave for more. We do not thank God for the riches we have.
One more year is passing by us. Think about the good things we have received from God this year. Believers call it the blessing of God. Non-believer brand it as luck. Whatever it may be, have we ever felt a feeling of satisfaction about them? Only when we have true satisfaction, will we be able to express gratitude. Contentment and thankfulness are two sides of the same coin. Men who are content will thank God and men for everything. Thankful people will always be content as well. They will live a life of geniality with God and men.
Let us evaluate ourselves at this moment. Am I a satisfied person? Am I a grateful person? Let us thank God. Let us also thank men and women who enabled us and helped us to grow. Let us nurture a culture of gratitude, realizing that we have rifts in our relationships because we do not grow in the culture of gratitude.
Dr Antoney P Joseph
Managing Director
