Gratitude

A doctor wrote a letter of thanks to a schoolteacher for having given him so much encouragement when he had been in her class 30 years before. He later received this reply: "I want you to know what your note meant to me. I am an old lady in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and seeming like the last leaf on the tree. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and yours is the first letter of appreciation I have ever received. It came on a cold, blue morning and cheered my lonely old heart as nothing has cheered me in many years."

Children are not born with grateful hearts as you might well understand.  From the moment they come into this world they have an insatiable desire to have their own needs met in their own time and their own way with little regard for Mom, Dad, sister or brother.  If gratitude is ever to be the regular response of a child, it will come only through the conscientious efforts of some grateful parent.  That’s right Mom and Dad; gratitude must begin in your heart first.  If you don’t consistently think to tell your little darling to say “thank you”, you can be certain, they probably won’t be thinking that way. 

When children are small you train them by forming habits that you regularly require of them.  As they get to be 3 - 4 years of age, you reinforce that training with sound Biblical reasoning.  By the time they are 7 years old, it ought to be a normal part of their behavior. 

So let’s not waste any time.  Christmas has just passed and I wonder if appropriate words and expressions of gratitude are still due?  If so, make sure you lead the charge by expressing thanks to those who have remembered you, and then you will experience a great deal of freedom in training your children to do likewise.  Your expressions need not be elaborate.  As a matter of fact, homemade notes and gestures work great.  Just remember, be consistent!  This is one habit for which you will ever be grateful.