My daughter and her family were in town recently. We attended church together, and after sacrament meeting, Emily tracked down a wonderful ward brother named John.
I watched their interaction from a distance. John was obviously happy to see her, and his face showed it. After a minute or two, his expression changed and his eyes began to well with tears. They spoke for a bit longer, and John wiped his eyes. They exchanged a quick hug and went their ways.
What happened? What prompted the interaction? I already knew. Emily told us that once she was home from college and attended Brother John’s Gospel Doctrine class. It made a significant impact on her during a difficult time in her life.
She wanted to thank him.
I thought about how thoughtful she was to do this – even after many years – and about what a sweet gift that must have been for John.
This past week, I received a similar gift when attending the LDSPMA conference in Provo. During the conference, I ran into two friends that I had gotten to know through a conference almost a decade ago.
Both had attended a class I taught about writing spiritual non-fiction. Since then, these wonderful women have become successful, published authors, which was very sweet to me.
Even more, each of them approached me to thank me and tell me how my class was instrumental in getting them started on their way as writers, and convincing them they could do it.
What sweet gifts! I’ve spent the last three days glowing.
So often, we serve and have no idea if we really make a difference or not. We press forward, doing our best, hoping that someone, somewhere will be blessed for our efforts.
Something as simple as a two-minute conversation, a thank you note, a heartfelt text, or an email expressing gratitude can bring tears of humble joy to the receiver.
The humbling part came when the Spirit whispered to me, “Feels good, doesn’t it? Maybe you should be doing the same thing more often.”
Point taken.
I’m committing to work on showing more gratitude to those who have impacted my life for good. They might not have any idea, but they deserve to know, and I know that gratitude enlarges my soul.
“In some quiet way, the expression and feelings of gratitude have a wonderful cleansing or healing nature. Gratitude brings warmth to the giver and the receiver alike.” Elder Robert D. Hales
I’m pretty sure I have an extra two minutes every Sunday to tackle this.
I invite you to join me.
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Years ago my husband and I taught a Primary class of 10 year olds. At the end of the year, they asked if we could “move up” with them another year. I said I would ask the Primary President but they beat me to it. We had an excellent rapport with that group of great kids. Now, 10 years later, almost every one of them is out on a mission. They told us we were instrumental in helping their testimonies. It is one of the highlights of my life to hear their thankfulness.
YESSSSSS!!!! I’m in!
And THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the goodness you have helped bring to my life…which I don’t have words to properly explain or the time to tell. God knows.
Really powerful reminder, thank you so much Brad! Your blog has been a treasure for my husband and I for many years. Thank you for keeping it alive because it makes a difference to us 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful post. A decade ago I found myself in a place different from where I had planned to be. I ended up in a wheelchair suffering from severe arthritis in my knees. My life changed dramatically. After feeliing sorry for myself until that didn’t feel good anymore, I began to realize that my life would be different than what I had thought it would be, and I had the choice to decide what the future would hold. My dad had always said that while you can’t do everything, everyone can do something. So, following this advice and my mom’s teaching that when you feel the worst find someone to serve, I started looking for ways to help those who needed a lift, or who inspired or helped me. I began writing notes of encouragment and gratitude.
This has made such a different in my life. When you look outside yourself, you begin to see how blessed you are. Thanks for your posts. They are a highlight of my week.
I totally agree with everything you wrote today..I only takes a few moments to be grateful and kind!!!