This noon I was eating lunch with my wife and daughter and watching the school children play with a ball close to our garden. There is a ten foot chain link fence between us and the school property. About ten nine year old boys were playing a game and the rubber ball got kicked over the fence into our yard. I put down my sandwich and walked outdoors to the fence and picked up the ball and threw it over. I’m guessing I got about eight “thank you”s from the boys. It reminds me of the ten lepers in Luke 17 that Jesus healed and only one came back and said those two simple words, “thank you”.
The school and/or the boys parents have done a good job of teaching some manners and reminding them to say, “thanks”. The ball was such a simple thing to give back, and yet Jesus gave ten men their lives back and only one could muster up a kind, “thank you”. Hopefully this is a lesson for all of us. Simple or life fulfilling things, don’t forget those two words. Try it today and everyday.
