You can see it in their crest-fallen faces.

Have you ever noticed the attitude of contestants on quiz shows when they've opted to take the prize money they've already accumulated and walk away rather than risking it on the chance to gain even more? When it turns out they would have increased and perhaps even doubled their winnings if they had taken the risk, they collapse in disappointment. The thought of this "misfortune" diminishes their joy over the bounty in their hands.

It's hard for us humans to be satisfied with less than we coulda' had or coulda' been or coulda' done. I know I'm guilty of dwelling on lost opportunities, whether ruinous decisions or merely youthful missteps, gross errors of judgment or minor blunders. Like the disappointed game show contestant, each time I indulge in such fruitless reveries, I rob myself of taking delight in the daily blessings that encompass me.

During a recent Bible study session, my fellow seekers and I discussed the sin of covetousness. Is it always wrong to want something you don't have? What about goals or even attributes you might hope to attain? What about using such desires to motivate yourself? Are there qualitative differences in such yearnings as those that set our determination versus those that merely give license to envy and resentment?

My thinking on this leads me to the obvious conclusion: Covetousness and gratitude simply cannot coexist. When I crave what I don't have (the bad kind of craving, the kind that focuses on the unattainable, or on another's fortunate circumstances), this preoccupation elbows my sense of gratitude to the sidelines. Sometimes it even shoves it completely out of my field of vision.

Stay in the wrong mind set too long, and you can get stuck there, unable to recover a thankful perspective. And that's a recipe for the ugly resentment you can read in the embittered scowls that surround us in this modern era of discontent.

I guess the bottom line is to carefully cull out the toxic, satisfaction-cancelling, gratitude-squelching kind of wants from the attainable, God-pleasing ones.

That shouldn't be too difficult, really. Because deep in our hearts, we know the difference.