Prayers of thanksgiving are not meant to tidy over the messiness of our lives, however. Bass writes, “Gratitude is not a psychological or political panacea, like a secular prosperity gospel, one that denies pain or overlooks injustice, because being grateful does not ‘fix’ anything. Pain, suffering, and injustice—these things are all real. They do not go away.” What gratitude does, however, is dispel the idea that this is all that life offers, that despair wins the day. “Gratitude gives us a new story. It opens our eyes to see that every life is, in unique and dignified ways, graced: the lives
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