THANK YOU

There are so many kinds of thank you's. There is the "aw shucks" kind of thanks when someone gives you a nice compliment. I love the "over-the-shoulder" thanks from kids as they are happily dashing off after permission has been given. There is the "tongue-in-cheek" thanks when you get that gift you "always never wanted" and the very sincere "OMG, how did you know?!!!" thanks for the gift that you "always really wanted". I have delivered softly spoken "tearful" thanks for the many, many who have walked alongside me through those difficult times. How about the "wordless" thanks...a wink, a smile, a hug...because you know the receiver so well that words are not even necessary? I have often stumbled through those "Fourth of July" thanks when the reason for the thanks is so big, that fireworks are going off in your heart. (One of my friends saved one of the "Fourth of July" thanks that I left on her phone and played it back for me. I sounded like a babbling, lunatic as I alternately laughed and cried throughout my message.)

A few days ago I came home and told my daughter about something that someones were going to do for us. Since she knows me so well, she said, "Mom...did you laugh or did you cry?" I told her I did neither. I told her that this thing was so beyond words that I just stood there like an idiot. I told her it felt like standing on a cliff away from city lights and looking up into the expanse of the night sky, seeing so many stars that you feel tiny and small. Or being adrift in a life boat in the middle of the ocean....all you can see is rolling waves in every direction. Again, you feel so small.

I can't even comprehend this kind of kindness so it is no wonder that I can't find the right words to say thank you. But it humbles me.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.--Phillippians 1:3