by Peyton G. Craighill

How many times a day do you say “thank you”? I’ve never counted, but it must be many times. Sometimes the act’s casual, and sometimes it’s heartfelt. I say “thank you” to the clerks at the supermarket when they count out my change – that’s casual. And I say “thank you” to my wife when she carefully picks out a birthday card for me and inscribes it with a loving thought – that’s heartfelt!

Whether casual or heartfelt – or somewhere in between – “thank you” always carries a message of bonding between you and the person to whom you say those words. It acknowledges a human act of kindness, however casual, that binds two people together. And in bonding them together, empowers them, however slightly or however much. In empowering the two people, the phrase give them a blessing.

Among people of faith who sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow…”, any blessing, however secular, comes from God. However remote from your thoughts, when you say “thank you” to a person, you are serving as God’s messenger, empowering that person with God’s love and God’s power!