One said “Thank You”!

Today’s gospel reading from Luke 17 told the story of ten healed from leprosy, but only one of the ten saying “thank you” to Jesus. I highly recommend the sermon Luis  preached today. But I’m going to take a little different tack in this blog post.

At the Pumpkin Festival in Havana yesterday, I helped staff our church booth for a couple of hours. It was my privilege to sit by the container with the prizes. In addition to seeing how quick or slow children were to make their prize selection (a very big difference between the slowest and fastest), I saw another range of behavior. During the time I was there, I only heard one child say “thank you” without being prompted. But 100% of them did say “thank you.” I was so encouraged that parents are still teaching their children to express gratitude! Some parents instructed their children to say “thank you”; others asked, “what do we say”? Those asked the question invariably said “thank you” — all they needed was a reminder, not instruction.

Aren’t we just older versions of those children? We all need the occasional reminder to be grateful.

So…
Thanks be to God for my church family!
Thanks be to God for the gift of time/talent/treasure/t-shirts that Shann put into making the corn-dig booth so much fun!
Thanks be to God that my grandkids happened to visit this weekend so they could attend! Benji told me later that volunteering (re-burying golf balls in the corn) was his favorite part of the festival.
Thanks be to God for parents teaching and reminding children to be grateful!

What are you grateful for today?

Sue Isaac