I NEVER GAVE THANKS



Thank You Mom

Giving thanks is an act that can easily be feigned.

If they are words without meaning to you then it is just a pretence and is not worthy of the giver or receiver.

The 1929 stock market crash is conventionally said to have occurred on Thursday the 24th and Tuesday the 29th of October. These two dates have been dubbed "Black Thursday" and "Black Tuesday," something happened in between those dates; I was born on the 26th of October 1929.

During the days that followed some people suffered greatly in the great depression that was the result.  My father was employed but was sent from place to place to ply his trade. As was the custom in those days, out-of-towners stayed in boarding houses and so it was, my father, my mother and I dwelled in many places.  

Paper diapers hadn't yet been invented, so my mother had the pleasure of having to use a wash tub to wash my dirty diapers. It wasn't unusual to have to change the diapers a dozen or more times a day so you can see it was a busy time for her.

Of all the hundreds things she did for me growing up I can't remember ever really saying "Thank you mom."  I may have grunted out the expected obligatory thanks but I did that sparingly.

As I think back - - I just expected her to do all those things for me because of some unknown reason, thinking that I deserved it.  Instead of being grateful, to me it was no big thing. 

She carried me for 9 months, suffered through a home birth, and then put up with my foolishness for all those years, and still it wasn't until I had a family of my own that I started to return her kindness to me.

After being born again my attitude improved somewhat but there probably was and is still room for improvement.

When someone does something good for you, gratitude should be shown for their deed. It doesn't necessarily obligate you to them for some will use a suppose kindness as a control device over you.

If you have been saved by Christ one of the easiest things for you to do should be to thank him for his mercy to you.  Since we continually need forgiveness we should continually give thanks to HIM for his grace and long suffering.

The Psalmist incessantly does this very thing through the book of Psalms!

Psalms 106:1 Hallelujah! Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his loving-kindness endures for ever.

As I said it is easy to feign giving thanks, just saying the words, but the Lord knows the difference.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmSjw8ZaiBs&feature=related

 

This post is shared at “Tell Me a True Story.”