Thank You

I recently read this article in the Ensign, about expressing gratitude to those who have influenced our lives. I was really touched by some of the examples. The next article in the magazing, The Value of Experiencing and Expressing Gratitude, had a similar theme.


I read them in absolute silence while home from church, sitting on the couch, in a sunbeam while Felix slept and everybody else was at church.


When chaos came home, I forgot about them until I received a letter from my brother, Ian.


Flashback: Ten years ago, Travis and I were living in Denton, Texas. We were going to college, had no kids, and were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. My brother was in need of a change of scenery and we invited him to come live with us.


He was only with us for six months. We had tons of fun and that was it.


We read his letter Sunday night, grinning, with tears in our eyes, his beautiful expression of thanks.


I don't think we did anything special. It wasn't that big a sacrifice. I didn't need any payoff. I received such a reward from this letter. It makes me so happy to think that something we did had such an effect on someone. It is amazing how happy that letter made us.


The story in the first article was about a pioneer woman, who, while walking across the plains was too tired to keep up with the rest of the group, so she walked behind at a slower pace. As she was walking, she came upon a pie in the road.


We receive so many blessings from the Lord! A pie! Sometimes the pie comes from the Lord, sometimes it comes from those around us. A little something to keep us going. I guess Ian felt like we gave him a pie but he gave us one by writing that letter.