I got a surprise gift in the mail a couple days back. No, I didn’t win anything, nor did I get a tax refund. I got a “thank-you note”. This one was a little extra special, because it was completely out of the blue. Here’s part of what it said:
Dear Bro. “MMM”:
It’s now been twenty years since I was a scrawny deacon and you were one of my leaders. My thanks to you is long overdue…
This young man – who was in my scout troop in the early ’90s – went on to say some really nice things that were very generous and humbling. I was thrilled to find that he now has a family of his own, and is true to the faith. (Getting a little teary here.)
It felt wonderful to hear how he was doing, and to find that I had made an impact all those years ago. It is humbling and invigorating at the same time.
I’m not telling you this to polish my halo, so don’t get judgmental on me. 😉 Remember, one of the things I am focusing on this year is gratitude, and this sort of made my ears go up. Since then, I was thinking about what an easy thing it is to jot down a note that could make someone’s day, and bless someone’s life.
AND SO, my faithful readers. I present to you the T.Y. Challenge. Yes, I am talking to you.
The challenge is for you to think about someone in your life who deserves your thanks, and let them know. Could be current, could be from long ago. Could be from family, could be from church, could be from school, could be from work – whatever. It could even be someone who you have had a falling out with, and need to extend an olive branch.
Got someone in mind? I’ll bet a name has already popped into your head. Run with it. Here are the steps:
1) Open your program, or take out a card or piece of paper. RIGHT NOW! I MEAN IT!
2) OK. Ready? Now stop reading this post and write the thank you note. When you are done, proceed to #3
3) Next, hit send, or get it ready to mail. Then come back for further instructions.
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(twiddling my digital thumbs and humming)
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4) Back already? How do you feel? Good? Sheepish? Blessed?
5) Next, write a comment about what you did – who you sent it to (no names please) and why, and how you feel.
That is today’s TY Challenge. I can’t wait to se your responses. I’ll go first. (This is gonna be awesome!)
I’m done. I just wrote an letter to a man that I worked with in the church some 15 years ago. Ours was very much that of a Master Jedi/Pawadan relationship – I being the Padawan. I learned a great deal from him about how to navigate personal relationships and how to help others do the same. He also helped reinforce how much fun it is to try and dig deeper into the gospel and continually try and improve our scriptural literacy. I wrote to him because I rarely see him anymore, and I think I appreciate him more now than I did then. I feel good, but surprisingly, I am a little nervous that he might think I’m nuts. Oh, well!
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Very very late to this party, but thought I’d join in anyway. I dutifully wrote the note as requested in your post and chose my YW president from when I first joined the church (I was 15). Testimonies are so fragile when they are so new and she along with a few other of my teachers in that ward really helped to give it the good start it needed. I don’t know her address but I’m going to find it out somehow!
Thank you MMM for the push to do something so worthwhile and yet so easy to do 🙂
Okay, I did it! I emailed my cousin with the award for Best Supporting Cousin in a Family Comedy or Drama.
I love your blog, I almost always agree with you (personally I like Santa Claus worshipping Baby Jesus. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy,) and you are making me smarter, too. Cool, huh?
Lucky ward to have had you for their bishop and if they complained they are all nuts.
Best wishes,
Doulabug
I write a thank you note once a week, 52 a year. Some are simple like thanking a child for singing in church and others are more profound. It has been a great way for me to focus on gratitude and on identifying the wonderful things others do that influence and bless me.
I am trying to cultivate the habit in my children…I think T.Y.’s are a lost art. When the kids were little I had them write their notes on their own art work. I would usually cut their paintings into 4×5 cards and that made their cards more personal, and gave us something to do with all the projects that come home from school.
You could have some fun designing your own T.Y.’s with your graphic design skills!
since my comment was long I started a new one so you wouldn’t lose interest. 🙂
I’m thanking MMM. I appreciate you insight, and wit. I appreciate the time you take on your blog. I can’t muster up 20 posts in a year.
Sincerely….thank you,
Linda 🙂
I learned a valuable lesson from a former Bishop whom I tried to thank. He had helped me 15 years earlier clear up a youthful indiscretion (cough). He said he didn’t even remember what I had done, he proceeded to say that acted for the Lord and that I did all the hard work. Even if that were true (that it was just between me and the Lord)he was kind, welcoming and merciful. He taught me the definition of meekness with his answer.
When we are acting in the Lord’s behalf, whether it is HT or VT or really any calling in the ward, we would do well to remember that. I truly believe that I have NEVER said anything insightful without the help of the Spirit.
…that being said, I think your challenge is a great idea. Being grateful and expressing it is priceless. I always save T.Y. notes in my journal so if I;m having a bad day, sometimes it lifts my Spirit to read them.
I love this challenge, but I’m doing something slightly different this year. My friend wrote a novel about a girl who is challenged to write a thank you note to someone every week. I liked that idea, so I’m doing it too. And mailing them even though I’ve so far sent them to people, I see on a regular basis. It’s just a lot more fun to receive cards than bills.
Anyway, I love this idea.
Your challenge is a good idea. I may have my kids write thank you letters for FHE tomorrow. The leaders in their lives now would be thrilled.
I’ve been meaning to write to my college orchestra, youth orchestra and civic orchestra director to tell him how much I appreciated his dedication to music. And thanks for picking lots of songs with oboe/English horn solos for me to play! My great-grandfather taught him to play the viola and I was kind of a pet student I think. ( : The problem is finding where he lives at this point..
Our oldest just received her patriarchal blessing (from her grandpa). As we’ve noticed the journey this has taken him on I recognized how much patriarchs REALLY have to rely on the Spirit and be worthy to have the Spirit with them. I’ve been thinking for a while to write to the patriarch who gave me my blessing and thank him – for being worthy, for listening to the Spirit.
I sent one to my husband. I don’t say thank you too him nearly enough.
I will mail my TY card in the morning to a friend who helped set me on a path I have been grateful for every day of my adult life, but I did want to say add that about three years ago I sent a letter to my sixth grade teacher expressing my appreciation. I was 11 and 12 years old while in his class. He was the first person who ever made me feel valued. The things he did in those 8 or 9 months of my life has made me who I am today. I am so grateful I listened to the prompting to send it when I did because he passed away less than a year later. How grateful I am to know that he knew in this lifetime of my sincere gratitude and what a difference he made to this one.
I had my YW president from over 15 years ago pop into my head when you said….then I quickly tried to talk myself out of it, thinking there are so many other people I could do this to….however I’m glad to say I did not win. : )
I was a royal snot my last year in YW, and she handled it like a saint. Im not exaggerating. I don’t think I ever thanked her, or apologized to her for that.
It will be off in the mail on the next delivery!
Thanks for the challenge.
Way to go, MMM! Goes right along with the RS lesson today ‘Love One Another’ & how we can give service. I remember I got a TY note one day struggling after my divorce & worried sick about my kids & a YW wrote to me to tell me how awesome she thought I was & what a good example I was & what a great job I was doing as a Mom, etc. I still have that note. It brought tears to my eyes too.. We need to all do this more often & may I just mention in writing instead of in a text? Loved it!!
I actually thought of this very thing today in Sacrament. Our stake president talked today and his father was my 6th grade teacher. My most favorite teacher EVER. When I got married I was in his ward and I was SO excited to see him again. His wife was my visiting teacher. He has since passed away but I still live down the street from his wife.
I named my daughter’s middle name after his (Lynn … can go both genders). I would write a letter to him if I could. But I love and admire his wife. I was thinking of writing a letter to her and just letting her know how much I am glad to know her.
The stake president mentioned how she struggled after her husband had passed away, and I just thought about writing a note to her. So thank you for the challenge. 🙂
Ok, done. I decided to email my sister, because we rarely talk anymore. I wanted her to know that I still love her. And I thanked her for being a good sister to me in our younger years. Thanks for the nudge. PS – I cannot believe you are “posting” with the expectation that people are browsing the internet in church! 🙂 PPS – I left church early with a sick kid…that’s my excuse!
Luckily, Guy just made me read him a couple of pages out of his star wars sticker book this AM which defined the role of a Padawan for me so I was totally prepared for this post. Now to find some stationary…My kindergarten teacher is not online as far as I know…The Christmas card that I wrote her told her absolutely nothing about myself and she wants more. That counts right?
I took your challenge, although it took me a little too long to figure out what the “T.Y.” abbreviation meant. It’s my mental day of rest:)
Anyway, I texted my little sister. She’s two years younger than I am. I didn’t do any college before my mission, and when I came back, she had already finished a year of school. I wasn’t sure where or if I wanted to go to college. She went ahead and got me accepted to the university she was attending, applied for my financial aid, got me housing, and then helped me sign up for classes that first semester. My undergrad education set me up to later get a graduate degree that has greatly enhanced my career and allowed me to provide for my wife (whom I met at that university) and family. I wouldn’t be where I am today, if she hadn’t dragged her older brother to college with her.
Gotta get ready for church, so I can’t do this right now, but I did do it last year, and it was great.
The note I got back had to make me feel a lot better than the one I sent her. Which is exactly what makes her so special.
=)
Thanks for the challenge. I did this a few years ago….realized there were a few people in my life who had made such a huge difference, that my life actually would be going in a different direction if it wasn’t for their influence. I wrote to the three of them. It felt incredible! I was completely overwhelmed with gratitude for them and then for my Father in Heaven for sending them and their influence at exactly the time I needed it. He truly is in control of the universe….