I have been reading the latest book by one of my 5 favorite authors of all time, Michael Casey. His new book The Longest Psalm is absolutely fire (like Holy Spirit fire). At 82 years old he is still bringing the thunder, and I am continually inspired and refreshed by his deeper-than-the-Mariana-Trench insights into humanity. The Longest Psalm is, of course, on Psalm 119 which has 176 verses. He offers a meditation on each verse, and so far, they are all gold. I’m on verse 64, in case you were wondering.

There’s a phrase I came across that really struck me and has stayed with me like none other. It is this: “The basis of life is gratitude not accomplishment.”

The simplicity and profundity of this sentence. It goes against much of the world’s ways of thought I suppose. With this pithy thought I have found much freedom. It is a wholly fresh way to engage each day and each experience.

This truth was reinforced a week ago during my time of lectio divina over John 16:31-33 which ends with Jesus saying, “You’ll have trouble in the world. But cheer up! I have defeated the world!” I sat meditating on this for some time, and have often wondered over the years what exactly Jesus meant by this. Then the Michael Casey phrase entered my mind as I was seeking the Lord Spirit’s wisdom, and I realized that this is at least one aspect of the meaning behind Jesus’s defeat of the world.

As He said, we will indeed have troubles in the world; it seems there is just no guarantee against that. But we as believers and partakers of the Divine Life offered by Christ realize that there is a new basis of life which does not follow the stressed out masses of the world. Our motivation and satisfaction come from another place if we have genuinely accepted the truth Jesus brought to us from the Father. As we live in God’s light we live on this basis of gratitude and do not feel we must compete and win and accomplish in order to feel and know that we are someone, that we are valued. We already know that we are of infinite value and are cared for more intensely than we can possibly imagine, and are subsequently free to bask in the smile of our wonderful Creator at the end of the day.

It is this “basking” which is that gratitudinal basis of life that allows us to engage creatively with reality and then, in turn, accomplish exactly what we are meant to do without any unhealthy pressure.