Pass on the Thanks

A few days ago I realized that Thanksgiving was becoming my favorite day of celebration.

I started thinking about Thanksgiving when I was a very young boy. I remember my parent’s enthusiasm for Thanksgiving. They were recent immigrants from Italy and were so thrilled and excited at the prospect of living their lives in America, where there was freedom, opportunity and more hope than they could ever have imagined. I remember my father’s prayer before the meal and how we children complained because it was too long. Now that I look back, it was probably not long enough; it was filled with so much enthusiasm, energy and hope.

I have learned that Thanksgiving is a time when I can personally give thanks to the people that have done special things for me. This came alive for me a number of years ago when I included in a sermon the story of a man and his teacher. The story goes like this.

Long ago, there was a group of men having a conversation with one another. One of them happened to mention a particular teacher who had changed his life by teaching him about the great poet Alfred Lloyd Tennyson. One of the men in the group said, “Did you ever thank your teacher?” He replied, “No, I never did.” Later that day he thought about what was said and preceded to write her a note of thanks. The letter found its way to her mailbox and her reply was most moving. She thanked him for taking the time to write such a lovely note. Then she said she had taught school for 50 years and this was the first word of thanks she had received from any student. It was like seeing the bright sunshine on a dark cloudy day, and it meant everything to her.

After including this story in the sermon, I suggested that people think about this magical example. A number of people told me that they had written their particular teachers and what a joy it was to have done so. I did the same myself and was overwhelmed by my teacher’s response.

I have repeated the story through the years and hundreds of people have followed the suggestion of thanking someone special. I commend this idea to you and encourage you to call or write your teacher, or someone who has made a difference in your life, and just say “Thank you, you made a difference in my life.”

We all have things to be thankful for, so pass it on!!

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