Gratitude Day 517

Wed., Sept. 30, 2020

Isaiah 38:19 – It’s the living who thank you as I do today. One generation makes your faithfulness known to the next.

They are two enormously powerful words: THANK YOU.

Two words, when put together, can express significant emotion, appreciation and insight into what is so important to us.

Two words, while easily said, I wish were shared more often.

In my credenza, I keep a manila file folder labeled, “Personal.” This is where I keep special cards or letters that people have sent me that I find deeply meaningful and personal. While it’s difficult to admit that I have this folder, there’s a significant reason why. When I’m having a bad day or struggling with whether or not what I do makes any difference, sometimes I pull out that file folder and read the little notes and letters it contains. Often, it’s the encouragement that enables me to look at what work lies before me … and keep going. It’s these thank you notes and letters that I know will remind me of why I sometimes do what I do.

At nearly every wedding I have performed, I encourage couples to sprinkle certain words into their daily vocabulary with each other daily and often. “Thank you” is definitely one of those phrases.

For some people, thank you rolls right out of their mouths with little effort. For others, these are words reserved only for special occasions. I’m of the belief that these two words must and should be said and repeated simply as often as possible.

Multiple times a day.

There’s something about knowing when someone else appreciates something that you have done. Yes, we shouldn’t need the “thank you,” I know. But it certainly feels good to receive it, doesn’t it?

I’m on a mission right now to encourage as many people as possible to treat each other with kindness. We DESPERATELY need more kindness and encouragement these days. Rather than expecting someone else to be the kindness, how about we ALL be the kindness?

Together. With “A Month of Kindness: October 2020.”

It’s really simple. Save, download or print the October 2020 calendar. Then, every weekend in October, send a thank you note to one person. Suggestions are provided for each day. It doesn’t have to be long. It can be a postcard. An e-mail would work … but I think an actual snail mail thank you would be more meaningful. Just write out 22 thank you notes during the month of October … and see what happens.

No need to send anything else in the envelope with the thank you. Just a simple note expressing your appreciation is all that is needed.

I keep thinking … if 100 people sent 22 thank you cards in October; we’d be sending 2,200 thank you notes. If 200 people sent 22 thank you notes, we’d be touching 4,400 people’s lives. If 300 people each sent these thank you notes? Together, we’d be reminding over 5,000 people that they do something that makes a difference.

Imagine over 5,000 people taking a thank you note, putting it in a manila folder labeled “Personal” and then storing it in a spot where they can go when they’re having a bad day. These thank you notes can have significant impact for years and years and years to come.

So, will you partner with me and send 22 thank you notes during the month of October? Will you hand out five copies of The Month of Thanks October 2020 calendar to friends and ask that they participate as well? Make it a family project. Ask a loved one to do this as well.

And see how your attitude changes after writing 22 thank you notes. Pay attention to how your loved one’s outlook may shift ever so slightly in the next month. Be amazed when people start telling others how they received a thank you note in the mail and what an impact it had on them.

22 cards. 30 days. Let’s do this together. Are you in? If so, please let me know. I can’t WAIT to see and hear about how these thank you notes are demonstrating kindness, joy and love in our communities and world that desperately needs it.

For your willingness to bring boatloads of kindness to our communities for the next month, I am grateful.

Blessings –

Dianne

Dear God – While we appreciate when someone shares “thank you” with us, I pray that we will choose to be ambassadors of kindness and thank you throughout the month of October. May we appreciate the power of these two words, embrace the possibilities that can happen when we express thank you and partner with you in encouraging others to be so grateful for many things in our lives. Amen.

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