David A. MacLennan, a distinguished preacher, tells a story about a group of men who were talking about the causes of gratitude. One of them remarked, “I, for one, am grateful to Mrs. Wendt, an old schoolteacher, who 30 years ago went out of her way to introduce me to Tennyson.”
“Does Mrs. Wendt know she made such a contribution to your life?’ a listener inquired.
“I’m afraid not. I’ve never taken the trouble to tell her,” was the response.
“Then, why don’t you write her?”
He did.
Then the following note came in return, written in the feeble hand of an old woman. It began: “Dear Willie…..” That was enough to warm the heart of a man of 50.
He read on: “I can’t tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a little room, cooking my own meals, lonely and like the last leaf of fall lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has in years.”
It cost little or nothing to say an appreciative word, but the consequences for life are beyond calculation. An expression of gratitude often provides a needed lift for life.
Borrowed
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:3-6