I want to make a confession: My life is filled with too many passions. Best I can remember, it all started with a Geography Class. Mrs. Grant was the teacher. I began to care about other places on the planet. I remember staying up past midnight to work on assignments. Everyone else in my class began to tell me I would burn out. My mom and dad started saying the same thing. “Doug, you’re going to kill yourself by tackling too many things.” That was in 7th grade. I’m currently 58. Rumors of my demise were, thankfully, apparently overstated. Along the way, my life has filled up with scads of themes, some of which, I’m sure, are more important than others. But one thing I can’t stop thinking about: Thanking. I’m haunted by thanking donors. I want to send thank-you notes to people who do nice things for the workers in the agency I lead. Somehow, by God’s grace, I’ve managed to convince everyone in our organization to send out thank-you letters on a monthly basis to everybody who supports the work they’re doing around the world. That’s every month for the past 34 years. Jesus instructed it. In I Thess. 5:18 Paul even instructs us to give thanks in all circumstances. There are lots of circumstances. So it seems as if we should be giving thanks a lot. But still — it never feels like enough. Will I be ok? Should I find a support group somewhere for OCT (Obsessive Compulsive Thanking). What’s your take on thanking? Either way, I’m convinced I don’t do enough of it. Lord, please help me become a more grateful receiver of gifts. What’s your take on thanking? Please click comment below and share your thoughts. Thanks in advance, if you can.
FB … recently one of those cute one-liners convicted me. ” Suppose all you had today was what you thanked God for yesterday.”
After reading your message, I feel much better about spending part of the day writing a few personal thank you notes to those who partner in prayer and finances for the sake of the unreached. It’s an obsession of mine, too!