Thank you note living...

We have been getting thank you notes in the mail from Alison’s friends who came to spend a weekend with us as a retreat time. Written by hand on lovely cards, expressing gratitude for their time here, they lift my spirit when I see them on my desk. Going to the mailbox was an adventure in thanksgiving as they began to arrive. Snail mail still matters. My mama would say they were “raised right” because they took the time and made the effort to send a concrete expression of gratitude.
Our daughters have worked with our grandchildren to teach them the basic words of politeness... please and thank you. Every time they ask for something, the word “please” must be used and when they receive something, thank you is required. On birthdays and holidays, thank you notes come from them emblazoned with drawings and words and scribbles. They are learning the fine art of thanksgiving. It is an art that only requires a grateful heart and the will to express it concretely.
My niece Genny sent us several thank you notes for our help with her wedding. The most fun ones were the picture postcards from their honeymoon in Hawaii. We felt that what we had given really was important to her and that we mattered enough to take the time to include us in her life. I am astounded to hear how many brides and grooms never send thank you notes for wedding largesse.
A few Sundays ago, Hannah and I made origami books for our small congregation and stuffed them with slips of paper. We handed them out at the end of worship and asked folks to keep a record of what they were grateful for during the next week. I didn’t have any presents that week wrapped in gift wrap but I found so much to be thankful for. The horses and donkeys making me laugh with their morning antics, the taste of fresh eggs scrambled with cheese, the sunlight on bright fall leaves after days of rain, a new (to me) car that is fun to drive, hot tub bath in an old cast iron tub that is just right for soaking and reading, riding Junie B even when she is cranky, a baby calf that scrambles to find his mama, the shape of graceful deer wreathed in early morning mist at the edge of our front yard...These were on my thank you note to God that week.
John Claypool’s sermon Sunday on gratitude and generosity has echoed through my spirit as I try to get my self together for this week. Paying bills... more bills than money this week, worrying about a friend who has been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, trying to figure out a way to help Tina, doing fall cleaning, looking for a home for Beagle Bailey who is driving me mad, changing summer clothes to fall and winter with a Goodwill bag collection... how can these be transformed into thank you notes?
Paying bills... We are not rich in money but we have more than enough even when we have to rob Peter to pay Paul. My sick friend... Walt and Mary Lynn were my best adult friends in college. Walt was my Baptist Student Union Director and he and Mary Lynn lived in an apartment in the center. They modeled another way to be married than the one I knew from my parents. Walt kicked my brain into gear with my faith, challenged my simple beliefs and loved me through an awkward transition to adulthood. When Tim was killed, he and Mary Lynn came when I needed them most to give me a day off from grief and anger. I am grateful to have them for friends. Trying to help Tina has been a tar baby. I keep getting stuck, pulled in feeling responsible for a woman I sometimes don’t like very much. Helping someone who is not like you can open windows into your soul and shine light in your internal darkness. What I see is not always very Christian. I think I am grateful for that. Fall cleaning... I have a house to clean when others have no home at all. Closet cleaning... I have more than enough clothes, enough to give away. Haven’t come up with a thank you for Beagle Bailey yet. Will have to keep working on that one. In all things, give thanks, the Bible says. This week I will continue to work on transforming gripes into gratitude believing God needs my thank you notes as much as I need to write them. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Amen.