?You can always find a reason to be thankful, even in difficult economic times. If you had no money in the stock market in 2008, you can be thankful that you didn’t lose anything. If you lost money in the stock market, you can be thankful you had something to lose!
In A Second
Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonnière for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it became very special. As he was leaving the Sunday Service a young boy walked up to him and said, “Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?” At first the preacher didn’t know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, “Do you mean this?” The boy said, “Yes,
sir. If you’re just going to throw it away, I would like it.”
The preacher smiled
and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. The boy, who was probably no more than 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, “Sir, I’m going
to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again, and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn’t stay, so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me.”
When the little
boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, “Son, that is the nicest thing that I’ve ever heard but you can’t
have this flower because it’s not enough. If you’ll look in front of the pulpit, you’ll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the Church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best.”
Then the boy made
one last statement which Rev. Ramsey said he will always treasure. The boy said, “What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet.”
That’s the thankful
spirit. That’s the gratitude attitude. And it’s that attitude that should guide our giving and our lives. Like that boy’s granny, God has blessed us so much. God has been so good to us that giving shouldn’t even be a question. It should just flow from us naturally.
– Rev. John R. Ramsey,
Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Adapted by Billy D. Strayhorn in his sermon: “The Gratitude Attitude.” From eSermons.com
When Dr. Albert L. Shelton went to Tibet as a missionary doctor, he faced some
difficult cases. One was a man who had a serious head wound. Dr. Shelton didn’t
think the man would survive, but an operation was attempted — and it was
successful. About three weeks after the man recovered Dr. Shelton was walking
down the road when he met an old couple. They immediately got down on the road
and began bumping their heads on the ground. Dr. Shelton said that he did not
allow anyone to get on their knees to him. The couple then gave him a rooster,
some butter and six eggs. He wondered what it was all about. Then they
explained that the man on whom he had operated was their son. “We have
come to thank you for saving his life,” they said. That old couple had
walked five days to say, “Thank you!” Why is it that many who
have received so much from God have difficulty finding five minutes to thank
Him!