57.9 F
Spokane
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
HomeCommentaryThe Holiness of Gratitude

The Holiness of Gratitude

Date:

Related stories

Indonesia — largest Muslim-majority democracy — upholds religious tolerance

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy, protects six official religions and promotes tolerance, but challenges remain.

Starting fresh, we aim to transplant stronger roots

Aging couple prepares to move homes, reflecting on change, loss, and hope—transplanting flowers and themselves to new soil.

Unbelievable Mount Fuji ordeal mirrors our repeated mistakes

A student rescued from Mount Fuji returned days later and needed saving again — echoing humanity's habit of repeating its mistakes and the need for compassion.

To end homelessness, invest in harm reduction

Homelessness and addiction are deeply linked; compassion, harm reduction and housing are key to lasting recovery and real solutions.

New Pope Leo XIV brings joy, perspective on faith over politics

We have a new pope! May the Holy Spirit guide you, Papa!

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

By Martin Elfert

One of my spiritual practices is to write thank you notes – not for things that happened yesterday or last week or last month (although I write those kinds of notes as well), but for things that happened years ago. A while back in this column, for instance, I shared with you the letter that I wrote to my old university teacher. This week, I wrote a similar letter to the owner of a hardware store back in Canada.

For years, the hardware store has been mailing out a more or less monthly catalogue. The catalogue always begins with a letter. In the beginning, the letter was written by the store’s founder. Now, the founder has died and the letter is written by his son. Yesterday, I wrote the son to say:

I wanted you to know that I have been thinking a lot about your Dad lately. Back during a lonely stretch in my life, I looked forward to receiving your catalogue. That was in large part due to your Dad’s optimistic and sometimes whimsical reflections: receiving the catalogue felt like getting a letter from a friend who was interested in a lot of the same things as me.

I’m not lonely today – I’ve been married for a bunch of years and we have three lively children – but I continue to be grateful for the days when your Dad’s letters showed up in my mailbox. I regret not writing him during his lifetime to say as much. Perhaps I can hope that letters such as this are occasionally delivered in heaven and that this message of appreciation will reach him.

I suppose that I engage in this practice of sharing old thanksgivings because there is something holy about giving gratitude away. The practice is important to me – much as when I forgive, I feel lighter when I do it. And I like to think that it is important as well to the one who receives the gratitude. After all, it’s a big deal to learn that your actions were a gift to another person, that your actions invited hope or inspiration into their lives.

Sometimes – most of the time – we’d never guess that what we did or said made such a big impression if no one told us.

I’m going to keep on writing down my old gratitude. If you like, I’ll invite you to do the same, to write a letter or two of your own. It might just prove to be a gift both to you and to the one to whom you write. As you put the stamp on to the envelope and drop it into the box, you just might discover that you are posting a few ounces of healing and goodness and joy into the world.

Martin Elfert
Martin Elfert
The Rev. Martin Elfert is an immigrant to the Christian faith. After the birth of his first child, he began to wonder about the ways in which God was at work in his life and in the world. In response to this wondering, he joined Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he and his new son were baptized at the Easter Vigil in 2005 and where the community encouraged him to seek ordination. Martin served on the staff of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Wash. from 2011-2015. He is now the rector of Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Portland, Oreg.

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

1 COMMENT

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest


1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
site de download do insta reels

site de download do insta reels

spot_img
1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x