Gratitude

Gratitude is the way to prevent covetousness. It's the way to prevent from placing our trust in material things. We need food, water, shelter, money, clothes, and so much more in order to live. But we can't place all our trust and security in them, because they can get taken away from us in an instant. By saying "thank you" for even basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing, we don't taken them for granted. Even when I add music from the latest Star Wars TV show or Marvel movie or the latest release of Phantom music from Andrew Lloyd Webber to my Spotify library, I offer a mental "thank you" to God and to the composer for the music. 

Gratitude is so powerful that I believe the rich young man in St. Matthew's gospel wouldn't have went away sad if he had cultivated gratitude. If he had been grateful that God blessed him with so much material wealth and possessions, he probably would have gladly sold his possessions and given his wealth to the poor. He probably wouldn't have put so much faith and security in his wealth and his belongings if he kept remembering who blessed him with those things. 

The same goes for the rich fool in the parable. In previous versions of my fanficlets about Loki and his love, Marissa,  I don't let her put too much trust and security in the comfortable, luxurious life she has thanks to Loki. On the contrary, I have her constantly being grateful for the life of plenty that Loki has given her. Before she met Loki, Marissa was living paycheck to paycheck. Loki wants her to be at peace knowing that she has a luxurious and comfortable life. More specifically, he wants her to be at peace knowing that this life will meet her needs, knowing that he will provide for her.  He wants her to enjoy it. 

Loki knows how long Marissa has been working so hard to support herself. So he doesn't want her to worry about whether or not she'll be able to afford her next meal because as his Queen, she doesn't have to. And yes, this is a relief for Marissa. She is at peace, but not to the point of putting her faith and security in the comfortable life she now leads as Queen of Jotunheim. She does enjoy her comfortable and luxurious life, but certainly not to the point of taking it for granted. She never stops being grateful to Loki for for the comfortable and luxurious life she now enjoys. 

I make an effort to filter a lot of things through whether or not they increase my gratitude.