From a young age, I was taught that if someone gave you a gift, you needed to send them a thank you note for it. While I have done my best to continue this practice into adulthood, I have to admit that I wasn’t always enthusiastic about writing these notes of appreciation and gratitude. When I was very young, I remember my mom and dad even going so far as to address and stamp the envelopes for me, so that all I had to do was draft the notes themselves. Still, I always felt a sense of dread whenever the time came to write my thank you notes a week or so after my birthday or Christmas.
One day as I was finishing the last of my notes, I realized that I hadn’t ever written a thank-you note to my parents. Here they were going out of their way to make these days so very special for me with gifts and celebrations, and I chose to thank them by defiantly dragging out the process of writing my thank you notes for as long as humanly possible.
As I look back on it now, I think that was the moment when I understood what it meant to be grateful. Gratitude can be a difficult concept to explain to people, especially children. By insisting that I wrote thank-you notes year after year, even before I really understood why it was important to do so, my parents were diligently teaching me to take a look at the world around me and appreciate what I had been given.
I now try to write thank you notes for more than just material gifts that are given to me, however, I know that I still have lots of room to grow in this area. This year, I am excited to work towards the goal of writing one thank you note per day along with so many others of you from the St. Luke’s family of faith. When my eyes are opened to the ways I am blessed, it always encourages me to find ways to bless the lives of others around me.
P.S. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Morgan Jones, Director of Small Group Ministry
