STORY:Applause all around

"When we succeed in truly thanking God, we feel good at heart. The reason is that we have been created to give glory to God now and forevermore. And every time we do so, we feel that we are in harmony with His plans and purpose for our lives. Then we are truly in our element."

— O HALLESBY

When was the last time you sent a thank you note? Didn't it feel good when you wrote your thoughts and told the person how much you appreciated what they did? When I have thank-you notes to write, I often feel like there is something hanging over me until I write them. When I finally stamp and send them, there is a sense of completion.

When was the last time you forgot to send a thank you note? Unfortunately there have been times that I haven't sent a note of thanks, even though I'd written them in my mind several times and kept meaning to put pen to paper. But then I allowed the busyness of life to push any mental reminders to the back of my mind, until something jarred them loose. Whenever that has happened, I've gone with the better-late-than-never attitude.

But I recently learned that I'd never thanked a good friend for a wonderful gift certificate tucked in with a sweet note that she'd dropped off at my house. She asked if I'd found the note, and she only asked to make sure that I had; she was not asking me to thank her. I felt terrible and apologized profusely, and we both joked about our forgetfulness as we age.

Years ago I heard someone say that when we forget to thank God for something, we both miss out. Not that God needs our thanks because God doesn't need anything. But God loves to hear our appreciation, and God deserves our thanks and our love.

Something is missing for us too if we don't thank him. It would be like being at a fabulous musical performance and being told you couldn't clap when it's over. When you experience something wonderful, you can't help but clap.

In fact, if it is truly magnificent, you clap while the performers take a bow and clap while they leave the stage. The audience may stand and continue clapping in hopes that the performers respond to the standing ovation with another song. If you were the only one in the audience who didn't clap, you would be missing out on part of the whole experience. Likewise, the performers appreciate hearing the applause.

God blesses our lives in countless ways. When we thank him, we feel good inside; it's like we are clapping with our soul and giving God a standing ovation in our heart.

And you can quote me on that.