Express Gratitude

It’s never too late to say I’m sorry, please forgive me or thank you.  General etiquette is that thank you notes for a wedding gift need to be sent within a year of the wedding.  Yikes, that’s a long time.  You can have a baby by then, and then you have baby gift thank you notes to get out.  (And you run the risk of giftgivers thinking you ungrateful for wedding gift, and may be less-generous in baby gifts.)

We are taught to have a thankful heart, to be thankful for all we have and show gratitude all the days of our lives.  My momma taught me.  I clearly remember the burial of my dad; my dear sweet mom hobbled over to the grave digger after dropping her rose in the ground, and thanked the grave digger!!!  For her it was natural and necessary. He provided a service for her.  For him it may have been a tad uncomfortable, he was about to perform the final end to her husband’s earth experience.  For me it was the way my mom did things.  Today I was at that same location, looking at the stone that bore the names STAUB Charles H.  Ruth G.  One stone, as they are “Sealed for Eternity”.  I was with her when she purchased that stone, and I recall one day going to see it once placed.  It had her name and date of birth and a blank, her death date yet unknown.  We talked about the thought of that, and she was very comfortable with her impending death.  She never neglected a thank you and rarely had anything to apologize for.  Then I drove around the block to see the Mattsons; William and Lillian.   Their stones were separate, yet side-by-side.  The ages of theirdeaths were sad to me:  he, just 40’s and she only 62. 

Gratitude welled up in my heart.  I spoke quiet tender words to deity, then, I drove toward the office and with a lump in my throat, choking back tears, went to the desk and thanked the staff for keeping my family safe.  As we hear reports of cemeteries mistreating decedents, and gravesites being desecrated, I am thankful that my parents and grandparents are able to rest in peace.  I think they were surprised with my expression of gratitude, but paused to ask my family name.  The gentleman, though said nothing, nodded his head, understanding my thoughts and concerns. 

What if you only received today, what you gave thanks for yesterday?  What do I want to be sure I have every day:  a relationship with my Savior and membership in His church, my loving family and my shelter. 

I am thankful for

Home

Citizenship in this great country

Heritage and posterity

Property to farm

The physical strength to farm

 Simple acts of kindness

All things great and small

Absence of danger and threat of danger in my daily life.

I am thankful.  Often I pause during the day to express my thanks to my God.  I take a moment to thank the cleaning person in the public rest room, the bagger at the market, to compliment a lovely dress or flattering hairstyle on a stranger.  

Once I cross to the other side, it will be much more difficult to show such expressions.  But for today, I am thankful for all that I have at LuLu's Table.