“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
I was shopping in Trader Joe’s the other day, and as I passed the food sampling station, the man behind the counter reminded of a life lesson. A little boy came running up to the counter and said, “Give me some.” The man immediately moved back the sample he was holding out and said, “What’s the magic word?” The little boy was visibly perplexed and said, “I don’t know, just give me some.” “No,” said the man, “not until you give me the magic word, and the word is ‘please’.” The little boy said, “Well, ok, ‘please'”. As the gentleman handed him the sample, he said, “Now, you need to say ‘thank you'”. “OK, thank you,” said the little boy as he took the sample,” but I need one for my brother, so ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ for him too.”
The first thing I thought as he ran away was, “Where is his Mom and why has she never taught him his manners?” The second thought I had was how easy it is to say the words but not really understand or attach meaning to the words. I grew up saying the magic words- please, thank you, yes m’am, no sir – and I say them out of habit. We were taught our manners from day one, and our parents would be embarrassed if we didn’t use them.
One of my pet peeves is asking a child a question and having him or her respond with “what” or answering my question with “yeah” or “no”. It might be politically incorrect to request that they answer politely, but it is my opinion that a little dose of manners is good for them!
Yet, sometimes when I pray, I forget to use my manners. I ask for blessings in my life which I don’t deserve, I ask for forgiveness when I am slow to forgive others, I ask for peace when I neglect quiet time with God, I ask for love when I am unlovely, and so many other things. I forget to use the “please” word on a daily basis in my spiritual life.
I also forget to say “thank you” which is the most important of the two “Magic Words”. It is so easy to forget when prayers are answered, blessings are abundant, peace flows like a river, or love is abounding to say a simple “thank you” to God for His blessings and His goodness. Sometimes I need to be reminded of these two “magic words”.
“I just thank God for all of His blessings.” James Brown