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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 5, NUMBER 37, SEPTEMBER 18, 2005 “BE YE THANKFUL” When I was a youngster I attended Saint John the Evangelist parochial school in Deer Park, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. The first eight years of my formal education took place there. Two things in particular stand out in my memory from my first grade year. One was getting in trouble for something and having to stay inside for recess, only to be caught climbing on the old-fashioned windows while being punished and getting into even more trouble. The second was a little story that my teacher, I think her name was Sister John Marie, at least it was Sister “something” Marie, told us in religion class. Please remember that this was a nun trying to teach a group of first graders a very important lesson. She did a good job, because I have never forgotten what she said. I have continually tried to put it into practice in my life since than. Here is the little story. One day God called two of His angels to Him and gave them an assignment. Each angel was to take a basket and go down to earth. One angel was to put every request that man made of God into his basket, while the other angel was to put every thank you uttered by man into his basket. When they returned to the presence of God, the angel who had collected the requests had a full basket, even to the point of overflowing. The angel who was collecting the all of the times that man said thank you, had just one or two in his basket. For some reason or other, that story has always stayed with me. It expresses in such simple terms the need to be thankful, a decidedly biblical principle. Let’s read Luke 17:12-19. “And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” Even the Lord Jesus commented on the lack of gratitude and thankfulness displayed by nine of these ten lepers. They had been healed of a horrendous, devastating disease that caused them to be outcasts from society and that would eventually have taken their lives. As Christians we have been “healed” of a far more terrible affliction, the affliction of sin. Its consequences are eternal. How can we not be thankful for that? On a day to day basis there are few things that are as distasteful as an ungrateful child. We have all seen it. A child receives a gift of some sort and instead of being thankful, complains that it is not exactly what they wanted. We have all seen adults as well, who, upon the receipt of some gift or benefit, do not show gratitude, but complain that it didn’t come sooner or wasn’t enough. God wants us to be thankful for the things that we receive. In a congregation of the Lord’s people, everybody is a volunteer. The benefits we derive from being a volunteer in the Lord’s army are indescribably sweet and too numerous to list, but we are all volunteers nonetheless. The people who clean the building, cut the grass, prepare the Lord’s Supper table, count the money, lead the singing, serve at the Table, teach the bible classes, and on and on – all volunteers, everyone of them. We all derive benefits and blessings from each one of those actions and more. It is such a simple thing, and so encouraging for those who hear it, to remember to say “thank you.” “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” Greg Litmer SUZY REMEMBERED It is the custom in our home that each of our children say their own prayer before they go to sleep at night. Their mother and I usually listen as each one mentions everyone in the family from their great grandparents all the way down to “Toby,” the family dog. One week not too long ago, one of the childrens’ grandmothers was hospitalized for tests. They knew about it, and never failed to ask God to “help grandma get well.” Shortly after their grandma went home from the hospital, our little four-year-old daughter asked her mother, “Did grandma come home from the hospital?” When she was told that she had, her eyes brightened as she exclaimed, “See, see, God did answer my prayer!” She left the room for a minute and then returned to her mother and explained, “I just thanked God for helping grandma get well.” Imagine how this made us feel, knowing that she so quickly remembered the one who granted her petition, and thanked Him – something we had not yet got around to doing.
Al Diestelkamp
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