Gratitude is Infinity2 min read

Most Sunday mornings I’m on the road early and traveling to meet new friends and fellow believers. Months before my visit, I see congregation names and names of leaders on paper and am eager to see and meet them in person. As the District Director of Development, I deliver District Sunday presentations to congregations to share the ways we walk together (the meaning of “synod), work together, and support each other. I am truly humbled and blessed to see God’s people at work in their congregations and communities and to share new resources with them.

After 50+ visits, God has made it clear to me that gratitude is infinity. What do I mean by that?

Infinity is boundless in time, space, or quantity. It means an indefinite number or amount. It means that number that goes beyond the last one we know. And the representation of infinity is an unbroken, 8-ish-looking symbol.

Pastors, members, and guests are not boundless. There is a definite number or amount of acts of worship and service we can do. And, yes, sometimes it feels like we fill our calendars with activities that go beyond what we think we can do. But the infinity symbol reminds us that there is an unbroken, Christ-like life of gratitude that God expects (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18), deserves (Psalm 103:2–5), teaches (Ephesians 5:20), and leads (Colossians 2:6–7). He makes it boundless, indefinite, and beyond what we know.

What does this look like in some of these churches I visited? It’s a warm smile and handshake that recognizes a visitor. It’s an everyone-included hot meal and fellowship that fills a stomach and soul. It’s a shared struggle to financially keep doors open that inspires new energy, ideas, and mission conviction. It’s a music teacher conducting songs for a fidgety group of Lutheran school students who are bursting at the seams to say, “JESUS!” It’s the faithful saints who have sat in the same pew for decades and continue to love God, love their families, and love their neighbors. It’s our pastors and church staff members who pray for and equip us to meet our neighbors to tell them and show them why we worship and serve our faithful God.

And in those moments, my heart says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14). On behalf of all who serve as your ministry partners at the District, we are grateful for God’s work of infinite gratitude in you!

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