The simple words “Thank You” can make all the difference to us.
Parents often yearn for a simple “thank you” from the children for whom they’ve sacrificed so much without any outward acknowledgement. Children would like an occasional “thank you” from Mom and Dad for following through on what has been expected of them. Husbands and wives can have a whole tassel of loose ends hanging between them if they rarely say “thank you” to one another.
But its outside the home as well. The work associate who so readily accepts our help but never bothers to say “thank you.” Sitting for an hour after the appointed time at the doctor’s office with no “thank you for waiting—we know your time is valuable too.”
And yet we cannot cajole, shame, or demand a sincere “thank you” out of anyone–especially those closest to us. It will come freely from the heart, or not at all. And the unfairness of not hearing “thank you” when we think we should is a great temptation to become frustrated, angry, or bitter.
One of the gospels’ premier “thank you” stories concerns marginalized people on the very fringe of their society. It must have been a pathetic sight Jesus encountered: lepers ostracized from both people and God, keeping their distance off to the side of the road pleading for his help. Included in this band of outcasts is a Samaritan, those who for religious, ethnic and cultural reasons were “untouchables” to all devote Jews. Yet their common disease brought even Jews and Samaritans together. Here’s Jesus’ response:
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. (Luke 17:14-16)
To give a pep talk at this point, “Let’s all try to be more thankful” misses the whole dynamic of grace. The Samaritan doesn’t work up the will power to say “thank you;” he doesn’t make vows to himself to try to be more thankful; he sees what happened to him and can’t help it! Jesus says to him, “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 17:19). The word for “well” is actually the word for “salvation.” Only the Samaritan is truly whole.
Henry Ward Beecher, a 19th century preacher, used to say:
“If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet, and sweep through it, and it would draw to itself the most invisible particles. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find some heavenly blessings.”
The most natural response to grace is gratitude. If we begin saying “thank you” to Jesus (and others) just for the blessings we see today, it won’t be long before we begin to see more blessings to say “thank you” for tomorrow.
It’s a painful lesson that we cannot control whether people will ever say “thank you,” even though we may deserve it. We can respond to God’s many, many gifts of grace in our lives by saying “thank you” ourselves.
And those might be just the words someone around us is waiting to hear.
Question: Which frustrates you more, when others don’t say “thank you” to you or when you find yourself not saying “thank you” to others? Share your thoughts in a comment.
I suppose I am bothered by others not acknowledging something I have done to help them, but I am even more bothered by my forgetting to thank someone for what they have done for me. That’s especially true for my adult children: They have become successful adults with
our helping them some, and we have done a bit of thanking them once in a great while. But when we see other families where the adult children are still relying on their parents for financial and other help, we (my wife and I) say to each other how grateful we are, but
many times fail to say it to them. Also, here in the south, it is a custom to wave when we meet someone — neighbor, friend, or someone totally unknown. There are times when I feel I need to be paying attention to the road instead of making that wave, and it still gives me a small guilty feeling, even though I have the feeling that it’s more important to be safe than polite.
Pastor, may heavenly God bless your this wonderful article. I have great lesson from it.
God bless you your practical and insightful lessons at EGST. I will not forget your heart touching advises in the classes and in Bethena cafe. I am now serving the Lord at Chencha. I am teaching in our collage at chencha.
Your student Workineh Abraham Wandaro.
please pass my greetings to mom too.
Dear Workineh, thanks for your comment. It’s great to hear from you. May God bless your teaching ministry!