Last week, we received the sweetest hand-written thank you note from a very special person in our lives. In it this sweet person actually expressed a lot of heartfelt gratefulness for something we had done - gifts given. How nice! Tonight I will need to sit down and write a couple of hand-written thank you notes to special people who showed me great kindness/love and generous hospitality this past weekend when I was in Arizona. I am so grateful for what they all did to make my visit/stay nice and I don't want to take that all for granted. But, I actually started rationalizing in my head the following thoughts: "Do I really need to write a note? Didn't I thank them enough in person already?"
Whatever happened to gratefulness in our culture/society? Why did I even think that I could get away with not formally thanking someone for kindnesses shown/gifts given?
In light of the current situation we find ourselves in as the United States of America, I am wondering if the biggest problem we have as a nation isn't the fact that we have somewhat forgotten our manners and how to be grateful? We have been blessed beyond imagination as a people, and yet it seems like all we hear these days are complaints and lots of people shouting "What about me? What are you going to do for me?"
What if everyone who read this post decided to start thanking God (and each other, as appropriate) for all the ways we have been blessed and/or assisted in each other's richness/well-being? What if our first impulse at the start of each day (and throughout the course of each day) was to continually thank God and the people in our lives versus just accept blessing upon blessing without ever thanking the One who has given so much? What if the most common words out of our mouths (and written down) were words of gratefulness? Doesn't it seem to you that a lot of our unhealthy self-absorption and fussing over silly issues would somewhat melt away if we were more concerned with who we could thank versus who we should complain to?
What about you? When was the last time you thanked God for your life and each breath and hope for tomorrow and your very existence? When was the last time you actually took the time to write a hand-written note to people in your life thanking them for a gift or some other kindness they bestowed on you?
Whatever happened to gratefulness? Let's make a decision today to bring gratefulness back to our daily routine. Let's set the bar higher than those around us by always being grateful and then watch to see how attitudes and outlooks about life get transformed when we model gratefulness (versus self-absorption and complaining). Give it a try!
Thanks for reading this post! I am grateful for the freedom to be able to do this!
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7 comments:
was the very special thank you note you recently received from your soon to be daughter-in-law, Kristen? that would be my guess!
I say that because I LOVED the wedding gift thank you note I received from her! it was full of gratefulness...and not just for the gift, but for other ways we had given to Peter's life.
I just had to comment because your blog post reminded me of her.
can't wait to see all the Ellwoods the end of the month! :)
Does sending an email mean you're less grateful than sending a hand written card that ends up as consumer waste? Just wondering in this day and age if you can be environmentally conscious and grateful at the same time. :-)
Deborah - You are so perceptive. Yes, it was a note received from both Kristen and Peter (that Kristen wrote).
Dennis - Call me old-fashioned, but I still think a hand-written note (in snail mail) means the most. Even though an e-mail accomplishes a lot of the same thing/purposes, the beauty of a hand-written note is that it really requires more effort and thought on your part.
Thanks for your comments! Glad to know that people are actually reading these things! Ha.
I didn't think I was old fashioned, but the day after I made that comment Jeff Jones sent me a thank you via snail mail, and it made my day, maybe even more than if he'd sent an email!
I rest my case. Some parts of "the old days" still make sense in this brave new world we are subjected to. Thanks, Dennis!
I decided to recycle Jeff's card as a bookmark so his decision to use paper would still be environmentally sound. :-)
Wow! I feel so honored that I was written about and the first person that came to Deborah's mind! What a blessing in disguise! I cannot wait to become your second daughter!
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