The Gift of Thanks

 by Tom Fairman

As children, we were always encouraged, strongly, to write thank you letters to people when we received gifts on our birthday or at Christmas. It was a struggle at times to find the motivation, but over the years, it became part of the process and we would keep lists as we opened gifts so we would remember who gave us what. It is a habit I still am in today although my letters are now WhatsApp messages and it is a habit we try to instil in our own children.

However we don’t give gifts to family and friends in the hope of receiving thanks nor did the threat of not receiving gifts next year used by parents to get us to write them actually occur. I am not sure if anyone has ever refused to give a present the following year because they did not receive a thank you note. We give gifts because we love each other and want to show the other how special they are to us.

Therefore the gift of thanks then is not for the person who gave the gift but for the one who received it. By saying thank you, you are actually acknowledging that someone else loves you and has deemed you worthy of a gift. You are speaking a truth to yourself that you are worth something in their eyes and begin looking beyond your life to see the other standing in front of you.

The other does not need your thanks but we need to give thanks to truly receive the gift offered. Otherwise all we see is the stuff and the material and the things and become engrossed in wanting more. Giving thanks enables us to see the action and the love that is behind it, but that takes a conscious effort to stop.

Of the ten lepers Jesus healed on the way to Jerusalem, only one turned around on their way to be proclaimed healed by the priests to go back and thank Jesus for the miracle. The proclamation was essential to retake their place in society and needed to be done, but the leper chose to actively postpone doing this to see beyond the gift to the giver.

Too often when blessings come, we get swept along with life and do not take the time to write the thank you note. It requires us to actively stop and turn and run to the feet of God, not because He needs it but because we need it. He needs nothing from us, but we need everything from Him, especially to recognise that we are worthy of receiving gifts and the ultimate of those gifts is the knowledge that we are loveable and loved.

Therefore let us be active in our gift of thanks to those around us and to God so we can truly receive the gifts we are given.