That I might be a beggar
Content in nondescript clothes
Freed from hallow distraction
To breath through blessings and throes
In recognition that all
Life springs forth and out from you
We’ll revel in each blessing
Each storm you’ll carry me through
To acknowledge that our Father is the source of all life and holiness makes gratitude the most characteristic attitude of the child of God. The petition “Give us this day our daily bread” expresses our creaturely dependence and the acceptance of all of life as God’s gracious gift. It strikes down possessiveness and makes us conscious that we are beggars.
And yet how reluctant we are to receive the gift! We stake out our piece of turf, claim it as our own, become grasping, anxious, and care0ridden about the security of our baubles, trinkets, golf balls, and immaculate lawns. “We gather into barns, insure the barns and their contents, buy a German shepherd or hire a security guard, and try to see to it that Blacks do not build barns in the same area.” We sell ourselves to the gods of security, and power, and a sickness enters the very heart of our existence. We grow competitive rather than compassionate, make others our rivals, stepping stones to our enthronement in a palace overlooking Malibu, part of life’s expense account, enslaved in the Babylonian captivity of the modern world.
One does not find an attitude of gratitude in the slave market.
-Brennan Manning, A Glimpse Of Jesus: The Stranger To Self-Hatred, Pp. 48-49
