GRATITUDE

I will relate as nearly as I can the account that I read years ago of a meeting of ministers. These friends were recounting happy experiences of years past and of memories of persons who had influenced their lives. In the course of their reminiscing, one of the party spoke of a dear schoolteacher of his early days, a lady who had been so helpful and so influential in his life. "And to think of it! I never once told her how much I appreciated her," he said with obvious regret.


Perhaps the thought came to him, as it so often does to many of us, that this is just the way it is with us when we are young, but another accusing thought haunted him and kept reminding him of his negligence. It bothered him so much that he made diligent search and discovered that his old schoolteacher was still living in a distant city.


Her one-time pupil, now a well -known minister, lost no time in sending off a letter, saying all those things that a boy had failed to say and all that a grown man had neglected to say. He told her how good and helpful she had been and how appreciative he was. He couldn't help wondering if she should still be alert and capable of response. Would she remember him, even his name?


He did not have to wait long for the answer that came in the mail. "Of course I remember you, Willie," she wrote. He, Reverend William, well-known and famous, hadn't been Willie for a long time. The letter was such a glad and happy one. She was so overjoyed to hear from a little boy who had once been in her classroom, and on and on. Then came the shocker! "And, Willie it's so good of you to write, for it's the first letter of this kind I ever received from any of my students."


There is an old saying that we are never sorry for the things that we don't say. That saying is not true! We understand the intent of the expression - that is, if we don't say something, we won't have to take it back or apologize for it. However, as in the case of the above account, there is so much that we ought to say that we forget or neglect to say!


We need to express love and appreciation. It has been said that gratitude is the memory of the heart and the mother of virtues. The expression of gratitude is a sort of acknowledgement of indebtedness and an attempt to repay the debt. It is plain that gratitude is a duty and a debt that ought to be repaid with interest. It has a double benefit, like a line from Shakespeare concerning mercy, "It blesses him that gives and him that takes." It is a part of the cement that bonds relationships.


And if such is due to our benefactors here, how much greater is our obligation to our Heavenly Father for His countless mercies, and to our Lord Jesus Christ who gave His life for our redemption!


Does this ring a bell with anyone?






Previously published in the Gems of Truth by Herald and Banner Press, Overland Park, Kansas http://www.heraldandbanner.com/