Thank You Goes a Long Way!

I can remember my mom being a stickler about always saying thank you! She would say that saying thank you goes a long way and prepares the path for the future. What she really meant was if I didn’t say thank you for a gift I might not get another in the future. I wonder whether Jesus was bothered after healing a group of lepers when only one came back to say thank you? I just received a text from one of my teens that was a thank you for the backpack that one of our partners provided for all of our kids and teens last weekend.

I was in a conversation with someone over the phone that I have known over the last 6 plus years. Unfortunately this individual is still figuring out life at 21. I had texted him about some important papers that had come to my house. I had tried to impress upon him that he needed to change his address so he could get the papers where he is staying and more importantly it gave the false impression that he was residing with me. The sad fact is that he got upset and instead of saying hey thanks Dave for letting me know about these important papers he hung up on me.

Over the last 3 months I have dealt with a local agency that is funded and overseen by the state. I had chosen to do something which I knew in the end might become what I call a thankless type of job. I have a passion to see lives turned around regardless of the cost whether that is economic or my time. So after doing work for this agency after 3 months and essentially providing services for free why am I feeling as if I might be the ‘bad guy’? I have been in the middle of e-mail discussions that sounded as if I’m the one that is at fault for the actions of others that are beyond my control. I’m the one who opened up my home and heart to help; yet in the end the perception of many would be that I got burned. I spent a significant amount of funds out of my pocket and never once received a thank you or got a sense that anyone noticed or really cared??

I know that it is difficult at times to not feel used and ignored to realize that we have to see the bigger picture and accept that whether all 10 lepers came back to Jesus to say thanks isn’t what is most important. I would have loved to have gotten 60 texts on Sunday or Monday this last week that said THANKS DAVE for the backpacks. I did get many thank yous, but not from everyone. It is difficult at times to know how far to go to respond to someone or an organization that doesn’t get the importance of saying thanks and preparing a path for future involvement. Otherwise my mom’s old adage would come true. ‘I told you I wasn’t going to help you this time if you didn’t say thanks so don’t be shocked now that I don’t help you. ‘

I’m so appreciative of being able to help in a very difficult and awkward situation. The difficulty is that I now have to pick up the pieces of my heart that have been broken because of the apparent lack of sensitivity of an organization that is supposed to understand the importance of saying good-bye in a proper fashion. The bigger issues is whether I would chose to partner with this organization in the future because of their inability to communicate, follow through and care in a humane fashion.  I’m more concerned about the impact on some kids that I love than my personal feelings or having my reputation tarnished.

Life is full of thankless opportunities that we still know that we are called to do. The opportunity is to rise above unfortunate circumstances and be a positive person that is quick to say thanks to others who are still learning.