Seven deadly sins

Dear readers, you may or may not have been raised as devout Catholics. I was not. So I had to refer to Wikipedia to make sure I had my list of seven deadly sins straight. And according to Wikipedia, the sins are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Interestingly, sloth was originally called the sin of apathy and sadness. The early church leaders felt that individuals who refused to “enjoy the goodness of God and the world He created” were serious transgressors.

You may think that I’m leading up to a post about depression. In fact, I’m not, though you’ll probably see an entry on that later. What I’m getting at is a connection between the sin of sloth (or apathy, or sadness, or whatever) and ingratitude.

When we fail to recognize the many blessings God has given us — when we feel that “I got where I am today by my own work, with no one’s help” — in a way we are refusing to acknowledge His goodness. (As a further disclaimer, I am NOT trying to say that depression is the result of ingratitude.) To the early church leaders, that was a big deal. A big bad deal. I think I do a pretty good job of realizing how blessed I am. But there’s one area where I am the biggest sinner of sloth there ever was, and that is acknowledging the blessings I get from other people. Often someone will go out of their way to be nice to me or make my day better, and I’m so caught up in myself that I either don’t notice or I point out how they didn’t actually help me.

By now you may realize what I’m trying to say. Yep, I am frequently a lousy wife. And even though I know what I need to do is mend things with two very sincere words (“I’M SORRY!”), I wanted the rest of you dear readers to get on my case about being more grateful. Tell me to be nice, ok? Remind me that I have a good life, and a great marriage, and that I should appreciate that — not yell about it.

Thanks, readers.