Shavuot is one of those great opportunities God gives us to develop gratitude habits. Harvard’s Tal Ben-Shahar, in his book Happier, says this about gratitude:
In research done by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, those who kept a daily gratitude journal—writing down at least five things for which they were grateful—enjoyed higher levels of emotional and physical well-being. . . . Doing this exercise regularly can help you to appreciate the positive in your life rather than take it for granted.2
When a community forms habits they hold in common, we call those habits traditions. Shavuot is a gratitude tradition of the Jewish people. It is true that many Jews do not observe Shavuot. It is also true that many Jews do not send out birthday and anniversary cards. But does this make it a good idea to not send out cards, to not make those phone calls, to not undertake the inconveniences of gratitude? Of course not.
Desiderius Erasmus is apparently the source of a quotation often attributed to others. He said this: “We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.”
This Shavuot, be sure to get together with other Jews to express your gratitude for the harvest, for community, for Torah, and for the Spirit. And if you are a church member, then be sure to be in church on Pentecost Sunday. After all, you owe God your gratitude for all he has done. And who knows, in the midst of being grateful, you just might stumble across a bundle of happiness.
- Dennis Prager, Happiness is a Serious Problem (Harper, 1998).
- Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier (McGraw-Hill, 2007), 10–11.
