Handing Out Thank-You's.

Okay. Compromise time.

Rather than just disappear from here for a few days, I'll share some posts from years ago lest anyone break the habit of stopping by. :) Today's is from 2004, so here you go.... oh! And I've disabled comments so to keep things simpler. For awhile.

****

When I was first-married, (long ago and far away) I attended a Women's Bible Study each Sunday night. Once while we shared prayer requests, "Jackie" told us about her job at our small town market.

She said a situation like this was typical, daily fare: A woman with a full grocery cart  basically ordered Jackie to wheel it out to her car. While the sun blazed, Jackie unloaded the bags into the trunk in a neat row. The woman got into her car, slammed the door and barely missed hitting Jackie and the cart as she left the parking lot.

At that point of the story, Jackie looked up at us with tear-filled eyes and said, "Couldn't she have at least said, 'Thank-you for unloading my groceries'? Is that asking too much?"

I never forgot Jackie's story or her question. Twenty-four years later, I've nearly always thanked those who bag my groceries in supermarket check-out lanes. And with every single thank-you, I've thought of Jackie's tears on that Sunday summer evening.

I guess this story brings up at least two points. One, that we never know what a lasting impact our words have on each other. Words are powerful, convicting things and can spur us into action. I'm glad Jackie shared those words that night. Thanking people who go out of their way for me has become a habit and a part of who I am.

One more point: The ungrateful woman from so long ago, if she is still alive, doesn't even realize that she also helped me. Because of her bad example, I vowed never to be like her.

But oh, how much better it is to inspire others by our kindness!

*******

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."   ...   1 Thessalonians 5:11

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them."   ... James 4:17