Although you will be reading this post at another time, it is currently the week of Thanksgiving and as I scan through various forms of media, it is a pleasure to see expressions of gratitude that people feel during this particular season, and I’m challenged to consider my own actions and how easy it is for me to take for granted the many blessings I have. My personal challenge, and one I am currently witnessing in today’s culture, is not so much the feeling of gratitude but it is one of failing to communicate our gratitude. And as pastor Andy Stanley states, “Gratitude: it’s not enough to feel it. We’ve got to express it because unexpressed gratitude communicates ingratitude. We need to become returners, willing to go back to those who enabled us to move forward to begin with.”

One person in my life that demonstrates the epitome of expressing gratitude is Betty Curlin, this Godly woman has written numerous thank you cards and is able to communicate well her appreciation of others. One of the many reasons I value Betty is that the art of expressing gratitude is dying, and I will do everything within my power to resuscitate expressing gratitude. Making sure my students understand the importance of a hand-written thank you note, they are asked to sign a note when a guest speaker or someone goes above and beyond for us. This emphasis on gratitude is important, especially for emerging adults, and I am thankful for programs like women’s volleyball at Union who choose gratitude as one of their core values. If we desire to see future generations expressing gratitude, we must “praise what we want to flourish.”

One of my favorite stories related to gratitude is one that has been shared numerous times about Charles Plumb, a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After spending years in a Vietnamese prison, Plum survived and one day as he and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man recognized him and knew that he had been shot down. Plumb inquires how this man knows the story and the man replies, “I packed your parachute. I guess it worked.” Plumb continues to ponder the unknown man who carefully folded his chute and the fact that he placed his fate in the hands of someone he didn’t know. So, as Plumb speaks to an audience, he poses the question, “Who packs your parachute? Who has done something that has helped make your day safer-or easier or more pleasant?”

Each of us are impacted by the individuals around us and expressing gratitude to those who “pack our parachutes” or to a driver who allows us to enter into traffic, or to a server who delivers our meal, should not be a difficult task. In What Does Your Soul Love, the Fadlings share, “Gratitude is one of the best ways to redirect your heart and your thoughts. It is a natural attitude shifter and the first step on the path to contentment.” So, if we desire to live a flourishing life, one of the easiest steps to take is to express our gratitude.

As I ponder methodologies to assist emerging adults in creating relational equity in their lives, my hope is that they will recognize the people who have already invested into their personal and professional lives and will take the opportunity to express their gratitude to those individuals. In It’s Not Just Who You Know, Spaulding includes gratitude in his nine key traits to achieving real relationships; therefore, if gratitude is a key trait to flourishing relationships, why is it such a struggle to express?

We may never know the importance of a single encounter with another individual, but we do know how it makes us feel when someone expresses appreciation, so why not take the opportunity to be intentional about sharing our gratitude with others? Please feel free to share a time when someone made an effort to express their gratitude through a hand-written note, an act of kindness, or any other special way.

This was the devotional from Our Daily Bread the day after I wrote this post: https://odb.org/2019/11/28/a-sincere-thank-you