How good it is to be appreciated! It seems as if so often we fail to let individuals know how thankful we are for them. I recall the account of the healing of 10 lepers found in Luke 12:11-19. The account talks of 10 men, a colony of lepers, lonely and rejected. Yet, when they met Jesus, they were all cured. Yet in the scriptures, the statement is made that only one returned to say, “Thank You.” Ingratitude seems to be a disease which is becoming widespread in epidemic proportions. Not only do we fail to thank and praise others, but we also forget to thank and praise God. I hear people say today, “It’s just not in my nature.” If Christ is in our hearts, love and gratitude has been placed in our nature. We take so much for granted. We are guilty of assuming we can tell individuals later how much they are appreciated, or we expect others to be mind-readers, saying, “They should know how I feel.” I believe each day should be a day of Thanksgiving, and Thanks living, where we spend time counting our blessings one by one. Opportunities need to be sought out to encourage others, share our appreciation and love. As I look at lives in the Bible, I especially like Barnabas because he was an encourager, always equipping and building others up. In our churches, homes, work places, and schools, I feel we could see a great change in people’s attitude and work if we could only learn to praise and say, “You did a great job, thanks.” Why do we feel it is so important to teach our children to say, “thank you,” when we as adults very rarely use those two words? Perhaps if we could just learn to be more thankful, there would be less gossip, hurt, and unhappiness in the world.

At this special time of the year, for the next 3 months, I would like to challenge you to make this a time of Thanksgiving and Thanks Living. Let everyone know, tell them face to face, send cards, texts, letters and smile at folks and let them know they are important.

Speaking the truth in love,