Monthly Habit #2: Thank

Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.

Psalm 105:1

The second monthly habit for keeping kindness at the forefront of my family’s thoughts each month is to thank someone. We always try to come up with people who don’t receive many thank-yous for what they do. For example, my children have thanked custodians at their school for keeping the bathrooms clean, our neighbors for helping us with our driveway in the winter, and our pastor for his messages that he works so hard on each week.

Each time we write a thank-you card, we try to think about all the ways we are grateful for these people and list the ways we’ve been blessed by their hard work. My children take responsibility for writing the cards themselves, and they hand them out when appropriate. It has become a fun challenge for us to look around for others who deserve thanks but rarely receive it. This in turn has fostered gratitude in our family for all the ways the work of others has blessed us.

It can be so easy to rush through our days without seeing the ways that others have helped our lives or bettered our communities. In fact, when our kids gave a handwritten thank-you note to the custodian at their school, he was so impressed, telling them it was the first time someone had written him one. When we take the time to notice what others do, especially behind the scenes, it reminds us of how grateful we are for the community of people around us and all the ways we benefit from a job done well. It is just another way we can give praise to the Lord, proclaiming and making known the things he has done.

—Kendra

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Notice the hard work of someone in your life, and send this person a thank-you note listing all the ways you are grateful for his or her hard work.

From the book