Issue 2009 #3
Table of Contents:
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A Letter of Gratitude
A man tells of a well-known writer who ended up in hospital with a deep depression. Fortunately, a friend visited him and made a little suggestion that turned the man's life right around. The friend suggested that he make a list of those who had helped him become the skilled professional he was, but whom he had never thanked.
Immediately the man recalled the schoolteacher who had taken time with him when he had trouble learning to read. He decided to write her a thank you letter. That retired teacher had taught for 50 years, and this was the first - the very first thank you letter she had ever received. When he got her tear-stained reply, the man decided to show his gratitude more often and consistently to everyone he encountered. It wiped out his depression, never to return.
Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in Canada and the United States, but you would bless yourself as well as many others if you started writing letters of appreciation and gratitude, and do it fairly often.
How to begin;
1. Make a list of those who have helped or been extra good to you through the various phases of your life. You should really start a new notebook for this list because you will want to add to it daily or weekly.
2. Start with just one thank you letter to one of the people on your list. You might want to plan on writing one more once a week, like maybe Sunday afternoons. Or, better still, get to work a bit earlier and do one at the beginning of your day.
3. If you have ever received such a letter you know that the thrilling part is learning specifically how you benefited that person. So make a point of saying in your letter exactly what it is that blessed you so much, the one thing for which you are most grateful.
4. This is not the time to bring up other business or issues that need to be worked through in that relationship. Don't sully your letter of gratitude with anything else. Just say a simple, sincere thank you for one, or at the most two things, and tell why it is meaningful to you.
When you start getting feedback you will discover how your letter will be treasured like a priceless piece of jewelry. You will more easily be able to forgive those who wrong you, and you will experience a joy and liberty in your conscience such as you can not describe!
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (I Thessalonians 5:18)
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