The Gratitude Curse

      The story below is an Advent Lesson in Gratitude (the week after Thanksgiving). This is an abbreviated adaption from the original by Rabbi Mitch Chefitz (His website is here).  The story first appeared in Chefitz's book The Seventh Telling and most recently in the book The Curse of Blessings.  I'm grateful to my friend, Dr. Stephen Porter, missionary, for introducing this story to me and to my church while on mission in Overtown, Miami.  I am continually challenged by the Gratitude Curse.

Once, in Victorian England, there lived an officer of the law.  He was young and arrogant.

            One day he heard a commotion in an alley.  He ventured into the darkness and saw a man in rags.  “Come forward!” 

The man in rags did not move.  Instead, he said, “I don’t know what to do with you.”

            “Do with me?”  The officer mocked.  “You don’t do with me!  I do with you!  I am an officer.”

            “Now I know what to do,” the man said.  As he spoke, he drew his sword.  Without further word he drew his sword and attacked the officer.  The officer fought back.   When it seemed the man in rags would prevail, he lowered his guard.  The officer’s sword ran through the man in rags.  Scared, he said, “Why did you attack me?”

            The man waved the words away.  “I am leaving you,” he said, “and as I do, I put upon you the Curse of Gratitude:  Every day you must say a word of thanks, a blessing, one that you have never said before.  On the day you do not say a new blessing you will die.”  The man in rags disappeared. 

            The officer thought this was dreaming that evening when he felt his body growing cold leaving him.  In a panic, he uttered a word of gratitude:  “Thank you, Lord, for creating such a beautiful sunset.”  At once, life flowed back into him.  The curse had been real.

The next morning, the officer did not delay.  He awoke with words of true thanks.  “Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to wake up this morning.”  His life felt secure the entire day.  The next morning he thanked God for his ability to rise from bed, the following day that he could tie his shoes.  Day after day he found abilities he could bless.  Then, he began to bless relationships and he realized his words had power. 

            This life of gratitude went on for decades until he considered he had lived long enough.  Vowing not to speak a new gratitude, he recited old ones, reviewing the blessings of his life. 

            As the sun was setting, a chill began.  He did not resist it.  Then, a figure appeared, the man in rags.  “You!” he exclaimed, “I never meant to harm you.”

            “I am God’s angel sent to draw you to God.  When I saw you – so pompous and proud – you were too full of yourself to hear God’s message.  So I put upon you the Curse of Gratitude, and now look what you’ve become!”

            The officer of the law grasped in an instant all that had happened and why.  “Thank you, O God for you have kept me alive so I could attain this moment.”

            “Now look what you’ve done!” the man in rags said in frustration, “a new blessing!”

            Life flowed back into the officer.

            What blessings will we discover when we live with the curse of gratitude?  Maybe it is worth finding out.