Welcome to another week!
Fallowfield United Methodist Church bakers made and froze 208 apple, Dutch apple, rhubarb, and strawberry-rhubarb pies on July 25. We’re on our way! We will also make and freeze pies on August 1, 8, and 15.
I’ve been thinking about showing gratitude this week. My mood soars when someone thanks me for something I’ve done to encourage them. This is especially true regarding my writing.
A precious reader sent me the most amazing letter this week thanking me for writing my column. It made me feel like a million bucks and brought me to tears.
I was raised to send thank-you notes whenever I received a gift from someone outside of my immediate family. It’s a good thing to teach children and I’m glad my parents instilled this habit in me.
Some people feel appreciated when a friend mows their lawn. Others may feel valued when a friend buys them a thoughtful gift or gives them a big hug. Spending the day doing something you both love is another way of showing gratitude to a friend or family member.
But there’s nothing better than saying thank-you, whether in public or private, to someone you truly cherish. This is the kind of thing we draw on when feeling totally unappreciated and unimportant.
Parents, spouses, children, pastors, special teachers and coaches deserve our thanks. Police, firefighters, and servicemen and women earn our gratitude. Friends who are always there to help ought to have pats on the back. Caring doctors and their staff, good pharmacists, helpful administrative assistants, and public servants with good attitudes warrant our thanks, too.
Solomon wrote, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken at the right time” (AMP). I believe this means encouraging someone at the right time is as valuable as a gold object overlaid in silver. Very few possessions carry as much value as these precious metals. Gratitude and encouragement are therefore priceless.
Are there people in your life who might not know how much you appreciate them? Sending a thank-you note today just might turn their whole day around. You never know when the right word of encouragement becomes the hand of God in someone’s life.
This gives me the opportunity to practice what I preach. I owe a debt of gratitude to David Schaef, my editor and publisher. David has the courage to print overtly Christian material in a time when God and Jesus are treated with contempt by so many in our culture. He is a great blessing and I deeply appreciate his support.
Have a wonderful week. Blessings!
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