When you do something good for someone, is it just to receive his or her thanks? Of course not. You do so out of love and care and because God has provided you with means whereby you are able to help others.

Do you expect to receive some expression of thanks? Probably you do, and you have every right to do so. Feeling disappointment when you don’t is a normal reaction.

Jesus surely did. Luke, the physician, tells the story in Chapter 17 of his Gospel. As Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem, 10 lepers Sir, have mercy on us!” Jesus looked at them and replied, “Go to the Jewish priest and show him that you are healed!”

As they were going, their leprosy disappeared. One of the 10 came back to Jesus shouting, “‘Glory to God, I’m healed!’ Then he, a despised Samaritan, fell flat on the ground in front of Jesus, face downward in the dust, thanking Him for what He had done.

The next words of Jesus clearly display His disappointment. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal 10 men? Where are the nine? Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?”

If the failure of nine of the 10 healed lepers to express their thanks to Jesus sorely disappointed Him who is perfect in every way, we who are imperfect will surely experience the same negative feeling.

The Bible is filled with many words of encouragement and commands from God for us to be thankful.

The Book of Psalms speaks of it often in such words as these: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Palm 107: 8-9).

Because I have received bountiful blessings from God, it pains me greatly when I think of the many times I surely have disappointed God by my failure to give Him thanks.

Perhaps Thanksgiving Day would be a great time to make this resolution. This year do yourself a favor. Before your stomach is so full of turkey it puts your brain into partial hibernation, let’s both resolve to seek, by God’s help, to develop a more GRATEFUL HEART. One filled with sincere thankfulness and overflowing into overt expressions. Thankfulness felt but unexpressed has no more value than water undrunk to the thirsty.

Possessing a GRATEFUL HEART, and giving expression to it provides many benefits. Here are a few examples:

— It will make glad the heart of God;

— It will make glad the hearts of those persons who do things for you;

— It will deepen and enhance your experience of worship to God; (Hebrews 12:28)

— It will make your prayers more effective; (Philippians 4:6)

— It will give you more of God’s peace; (Philippians 4:6-7)

— It will enable you to be more in God’s will; (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

— It will help you overcome depression for it cannot co-exist with thankfulness, and;

— It encourages others to want to do kind things for you.

Unfortunately, expressing thanks is fast becoming eligible for the list of extinct practices. Young and old alike just don’t thank people who do kind deeds for them as was done in our grandparents’ day. I wonder if there could be some connection here between this and our present age being among the most violent and tranquilizer-taking one in history. Maybe so.

The elder President Bush has lived a long, influential, benevolent and adventuresome life. Though it never appeared in many media stories, more personal books tell of his practice of fervently writing “thank-you notes” to all who befriended him. A TV commentator recently commented, “If you have the former President and Mrs. Bush eat at your home, he has already started writing you a thank-you note before he gets out of your driveway”.

There is no doubt in my mind that his grateful heart and faithful expression of it contributes much to the quality of his life. What do you think? Thankfulness has few, if any, equals as a human quality. When you thank God and others, you do a good thing for them and for yourself.

(Dr. French O’Shields is a Gaffney native and a retired Presbyterian minister.)