Show Appreciation To Those Who Deserve It

On the night of April 14, 1865, at 7:22 A.M., as Lincoln drew his last breath, all the dignitaries who had crowded into a little bedroom in a boarding house across the street from Ford’s Theatre, turned to Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s “tough” Secretary of War, for a final word. Stanton was perhaps the most influential of the Cabinet; after a strained beginning, he had come to revere Lincoln as a man and a leader.  Stanton stood still, sobbing, and then said, simply, “Now he belongs to the ages.”

In Chapter 17: 1-19, Luke records the following account of   Jesus’ cleansing of ten lepers: 11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.

Showing appreciation for a kindness reveals how much we value the benevolence.  Albert Schweitzer made the following observation:

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

Goethe, the German poet noted: “Correction does much, but encouragement does more. Encouragement after censure is as the sun after a shower.”  (Emphasis mine.)

In Psalm 150:1-6, the poet David writes: “Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” In Psalm 77:11, he adds: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the Apostle Paul muses:  “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

In his autobiography, Breaking Barriers, syndicated columnist Carl Rowan tells about a teacher who greatly influenced his life. Rowan relates: Miss Thompson reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. I listened intently as she read: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.”

More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved teacher. She wrote me: “You have no idea what that newspaper story meant to me. For years, I endured my brother’s arguments that I had wasted my life. That I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of my brother. After he’d read it, I said, ‘You see, I didn’t really waste my life, did I?’”  Carl Rowan, Breaking Barriers,  Little, Brown, Quoted in Reader’s Digest,  January 1992.

Let us model our practice after that of the healed leper who returned to thank Jesus for his healing.  “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Until next week, may God richly bless you and yours.

Contact: fhevener@oilart.com; (434) 392-6255; www.guthriememorial.org.

©Fillmer Hevener, 2016