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Performer Pharrell Williams
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"I Want to say Thank You to Dad."
an open and relational appreciation of the song
“God only knows what I’d be without you.” How we hear these lines will depend on our circumstances. For many people, the song has a celebratory feel. It's about being thankful and glad for the love of others.
But the woman interviewed in the clip below, the artist Kim Lynch, hears it differently. She hears them with the ears of her mother dying of cancer. Her mother loved the song and wanted to express her appreciation to her husband for his years of care for her. She hears the line with a sense of gratitude amid impending loss: a sadness mixed with love. “God only knows what I’d be without you.”
From the perspective of process theology, there is wisdom in the mother's words. God does not know the future in advance, because it does not exist as an actuality to be known. But God does know the past, not only what happened but also what could have happened. God knows who we may well have become, had we not been loved by others. In the spiritual alphabet “G” is for gratitude. Gratitude not to God alone, but also to those who care for us, who love us. “C” is for connection and “L” is for love.
But the woman interviewed in the clip below, the artist Kim Lynch, hears it differently. She hears them with the ears of her mother dying of cancer. Her mother loved the song and wanted to express her appreciation to her husband for his years of care for her. She hears the line with a sense of gratitude amid impending loss: a sadness mixed with love. “God only knows what I’d be without you.”
From the perspective of process theology, there is wisdom in the mother's words. God does not know the future in advance, because it does not exist as an actuality to be known. But God does know the past, not only what happened but also what could have happened. God knows who we may well have become, had we not been loved by others. In the spiritual alphabet “G” is for gratitude. Gratitude not to God alone, but also to those who care for us, who love us. “C” is for connection and “L” is for love.
Let’s get technical. God knows the past actual occasions of our lives completely, in their entirety. Knowing them includes knowing the decisions that we made as we underwent them and also the influences upon us as we made those decisions. God also knows the possibilities for responding to our environment that were available to us as we made the decisions.
Can God then imagine what our lives might be like, had we chosen alternative possibilities and not made the decisions we made? Can God imagine what our lives might be like, had other people, those who care for us, not decided to care for us? I think so. God knows what might have been as well as what is, and God knows what is in light of what might have been.
We can rightly imagine that God would likewise be grateful for others having made those decisions. God would be grateful for the kindly father, the tender mother, the loving friend, the gracious counselor, the good teacher, the loving grandmother, the generous neighbor. Human gratitude is a very good thing and divine gratitude likewise good.
Divine gratitude points to the humility of God - God's dependence on our cooperation for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we cooperate, we can imagine God saying Thank You. God only knows what God would be without us.
Jay McDaniel, June 1, 2021
Gratitude
The spiritual practice of gratitude has been called a state of mind and a way of life. But we prefer to think of it as a grammar — an underlying structure that helps us construct and make sense out of our lives. The rules of this grammar cover all our activities. Its syntax reveals a system of relationships linking us to the divine and to every other part of the creation.
To learn the grammar of gratitude, practice saying "thank you" for happy and challenging experiences, for people, animals, things, art, memories, dreams. Count your blessings, and praise God. Utter blessings, and express your appreciation to everything and everyone you encounter. By blessing, we are blessed.
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
To learn the grammar of gratitude, practice saying "thank you" for happy and challenging experiences, for people, animals, things, art, memories, dreams. Count your blessings, and praise God. Utter blessings, and express your appreciation to everything and everyone you encounter. By blessing, we are blessed.
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
From the mind and heart of someone in recovery: "I am so thankful for my family and friends; God only knows what I'd be without them. Indeed, I think God is thankful, too. Even as God may not know the future in advance, God knows what was, and what could have been, had they not been there for me. Yes, God only knows."