Other essays on this theme

Essay: "Gratitude"

by Shawn Montgomery
A baby gift came to a young couple who were new parents. They were grateful for the present, so the mom picked up a thank you card, wrote a nice note, and got it ready to send.

Somehow it got buried in an avalanche of paperwork and was never mailed, and the thank you was forgotten. The gift-givers waited, but no acknowledgement came. A rift developed as one family thought the thank you had been given, while the other thought the lack of a thank you was a snub. This inadvertent failure to send a card left the gift giver feeling slighted, unappreciated, and neglected.

Among the most important words we can speak are the two words, Thank You. And while it is vital to be grateful, there's another side of thank you. If we bestow a gift on another, we should do so out of a motive that doesn't expect anything, even a thank you, in return. True love gives with no expectations.

P.S.

Gratitude unlocks the freedoms of life. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, and a stranger into a friend.