Imagine writing a few hundred thank you notes in the span of roughly four years. With no ulterior motives and no holiday to prompt her correspondence, one parishioner did just that. She shared with us how, years ago, she decided to write three to five spontaneous thank you notes per week throughout her job as a school principal. This exercise energized her work week. "The fun part of it was that I knew it would get done, so I was always thinking about it," she said.
From volunteers to librarians to a public school superintendent who woke up in the wee hours of the morning to monitor the roads and consult with the police about school delays during inclement weather, hundreds of diligent workers received her notes. Setting aside the time to stop and acknowledge the faithful people she crossed paths with day in and day out instilled in her the spiritually-minded discipline of noticing. "I noticed something I appreciated about a parent who dropped off a child every day," she said, recalling one of her first thank you notes and how she told the parent that this sliver of interaction each morning was a blessing. Each thank you note was met with surprise. "I can't tell you how many people said, 'I've been doing this for years and no one ever said thank you!' They were grateful to be noticed."
As we approach Thanksgiving Day and this season of noticing God's goodness to us, including taking notice of how His love is made complete through one another (1 John 4:12), we want to hear from YOU. How do you cultivate an attitude of gratitude? Here is what some of our staff had to say.
“There are many acts of grace to which I respond in prayer and say, “Thank you, God.” These are short prayers that happen in the moment, and I would say it’s habitual. I am uninhibited with believers, but I have tried to cultivate a habit of thanking God out loud to nonbelievers. Sometimes they react. One time when I said, “Praise God!” someone said, “What’s He got to do with it?” I said, “Well, He’s in back of it all.””
“A little book that has been life-changing to me - and that I now buy wholesale to give away! - is “Prison to Praise” by Merlin Carothers. It was through that book that I learned how important and powerful are the scriptural injunctions to “rejoice always and . . . give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We can do so, no matter how difficult or painful the situation if we trust that God truly will “work out everything for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).”
“Several years ago, a friend gave me the book “One Thousand Gifts” by Ann Voskamp. The premise of the book is simple: embrace everyday blessings and you will be transformed by God’s grace. The best part is that it’s true. When I cultivate an attitude of thanksgiving, of giving thanks, I see the world in a new way. Problems that crop up and demand attention are put in their rightful place when I focus on gratitude towards God rather than the nature of the problem. Thanksgiving is a practical spiritual discipline in that it opens us up to experience God and our world in a way that changes us from inwardly focusing on ourselves to setting our eyes on God. So give thanksgiving to God lavishly, especially when you don’t feel like it. When we do that, we will experience God’s loving grace.”
Compiled by a member of our church staff