Gratitude does not depend on what is given or what is received. Gratitude is an attitude of the heart. One with a grateful heart stops immediately. Nothing else can go on until thanksgiving is expressed.
That is what we see in the one leper who is healed. He cannot go back to his old life, nor can he begin his new life until he returns to Jesus, the source of healing, and offers Him thanks and praise. Our nation has been richly blessed by God. Each of us has received mercies new every morning.
The key to contentment and peace is neither the abundance of gifts nor an absence, but a heart that returns thanks to the source of those gifts. Today we pause to do that, as a nation, as a people, and as Christians.