Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Ascension Presents.
So, years ago I was riding in a taxi cab
And—you know if you're from the small town in Minnesota that I'm from
like riding in a taxi cab is kind of an exciting experience to have
because we don't have many taxis around here.
Anyways I was in it, and I was excited so I was talking to the driver
and he was just this incredibly joyful and incredibly grateful man.
And so, I was talking to him about like what is it you love about your job
and then I asked him like, what is it that you find difficult these days driving a cab?
And without even hesitating, he said
"I just—" he says, "many people out here driving on the road,
they're so entitled."
I was like, "Well, what do you mean?"
He says, "Well, everyone's got somewhere to go
and if you are in their way,
you're holding them back from where they need to go
and you are simply an obstacle."
Because why? Because they deserve, they're entitled to get where they need to go
and they don't even take into—" this is what he said,
"they don't even take into consideration, hey, we're on the road, we all have somewhere to go."
We all have somewhere we need to be at a certain time
but that sense of entitlement is
"No no no... I have a right for you to get out of my way."
Because that's what entitlement is, right?
And entitlement is when we (laughs) when we mistakenly
perceive a need or desire as our right.
To be entitled, to have a sense of entitlement is when we mistakenly perceive a need,
a legitimate need that we have or a legitimate desire we have, as something that we deserve.
But we have to realize that there are many needs we have, many desires we have
that we don't deserve in any way.
Now, there are some things that we do have a right to.
Dr. John Townsend wrote a book called The Entitlement Cure.
I remember when I picked it up, I thought, "Oh! This will be good for those dang millennials," you know?
Because oh my gosh! How many times, if you're a millennial watching this,
how many times have people accused you of being the entitlement generation?
You know, that might be the case for some people
but he said while some people approach life with this universal entitlement—everything is owed to them,
almost everyone approaches the universe with what he calls a pocket entitlement
a sense of pocket entitlement,
which is that not everywhere do people owe me these things
not, "do I have rights?—" I don't just have rights to do anything
but there's some areas in my life, I think, "No, I'm entitled to this,
I deserve this, I have a right to this."
And as I was reading this, I thought, this is not a generational thing at all
this is just a human—a fallen human thing.
There are certain rights we have.
He says we have earned rights.
For example, if you said to your employer
I will give you this much work
and your employer said well if you do that much work, then you have these many benefits
and if he was gonna withhold those benefits, you could say no no
I've earned those benefits, that would be the case, that would be true.
They are your right because that was the agreement.
You earned those rights.
He also pointed out there are certain things called contractual rights.
For example, living in the United States,
in the United States, you have the right of free speech, you have the right to bear arms,
you have your rights! Right?
And as long live in the United States, as a citizen here
and you don't (laughs) again, do something to give away those rights
you have that right, that's a contractual right you can appeal to and say,
"No, this was given to me, by virtue of my being a citizen."
So, there are earned rights and there's contractual rights.
Again, but the mistake a lot of us fall into
is thinking that merely everything I need, or everything I desire is something that I deserve
Dr. John Townsend, he talks about this, he says when he raised his kids,
he made it very clear to them, he said, OK, there's gonna be a lot of things that you need growing up:
you need shelter, you need love, you need us to set boundaries,
you need us to feed you, you need all these things; we'll give them to you
as free gifts
but you don't deserve any of them.
Think about how radically different that is,
that you're going to be given these things as gifts, because you need them, because we love you
but you don't have a right to them.
Now, someone can debate that, someone can argue that
and go ahead, please do that, it's not my thing. It's the guy who wrote the book's thing.
But I think there's something about that that resonates
Why? Because when I start seeing things as my right,
I will automatically stop seeing them as a gift
and if they're my right, then I'm not grateful for them
because why? Because I deserve this,
I'm owed this, from someone, somewhere in the world owes me something.
But this is one of these massively huge things for us Christians to understand—
that the world doesn't owe me anything.
I mean, think about this, God doesn't owe me anything.
This is a hard word, I don't mean to be too harsh
but to understand this, it's all gift.
It's not my right, I'm not entitled to this, it is completely a gift.
If they're gifts, then I can be grateful for them. If they're gifts, I can take joy in them.
If they're gifts, I have someone to thank for a gift.
And that's what Thanksgiving is all about, right?
and that's what the Eucharist— Eucharistiae means thanksgiving.
That's what praise is all about.
(laughs) That's why your parents taught you to say thank you.
Why? Because it's not your right.
It's just a gift.
So, here's a question.
Today in your life, do you have things that you don't deserve?
Are there things that you've been given that aren't your right, you weren't entitled to
but they're just a gift?
The proper response to that
is "Thank you."
The proper response to that is gratitude
and the more and more you and I
live realizing that there are very, very few things that I have a right to,
very few things that I deserve,
but I have so many gifts,
the more gratitude, the more joy,
and the more absolute love we'll experience in this life.
I invite you, take a moment, today
look at the gifts you've been given, not as rights, not as things you deserved
but as gifts.
Take a moment and give thanks for those gifts.
I promise, it is a recipe for joy.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents, my name is Father Mike, God Bless