HOW DO YOU SAY "THANK YOU"?

What's you favorite way to say, "Thank you"? Flowers? A card? A gift? The words alone? What's your favorite way to be thanked? Are the two the same?

Food and affection are two of my favorite ways both to thank and be thanked, but it depends on the person. Our congregation recently received quite a large gift of money from a relative of some of our members. I didn't send the donor food, and since he lives in another state, I couldn't give him a hug. I probably wouldn't have done that, anyway. I simply wrote him a letter suggesting the possible effects his gift might have on the congregation and its ministries.

Which reminds me: one of the ways that I say "Thank you" to God is through my gifts to the church and others who can put the money I give to use in the service of others. And one of the ways I might say "Thank you" to God for some new thing I have been able to purchase is to use it for the benefit of God's work in the world. For example, when our family got our new "media center" computer a couple of years ago, the first "media thing" I did on it was to make a DVD for a worship service. I didn't really plan it that way; it just happened. Granted, I have a calling that makes things like that more likely to happen, but it could happen to others, too.

You buy a new car, and the first thing you do with it is give someone a ride to the doctor's office who doesn't have a car of their own. You buy a new video game console, and first thing you do is to share it with your youth group. I had a counsin who used to invite Bible college students out to their lake cabin. There are certainly a lot of ways one can say "Thank You"--to God and to anyone else who happens to have blessed your day.

Blessings to you.
John