Only Thankful Person

“It’s not happy people who are thankful, but rather thankful people who are happy.”

🔊 Click here to listen to a 2-minute audio version of this story.

Back in Ancient times, leprosy was one of the worst illnesses a person could have. Not only was it a nasty skin disease that caused extreme pain, but it was also contagious.

Lepers were social outcasts as everyone shunned them and avoided them at all costs.

In the book of Luke in the Bible’s New Testament, there’s a story of Jesus healing 10 lepers. Understandably the lepers are ecstatic and run off to show others that they are healed.

Amazingly, only one of the ten returned to thank Jesus for healing him of this wicked condition.

Even more amazing is that the one who returns is a Samaritan. Jesus was a Jew. If you were a Samaritan, a Jewish person was your arch-nemesis. They simply did not like each other.

In our daily lives are we more like that one person or more like the other nine?

Do we go out of our way to thank others? Do we have an attitude of gratitude?

We live in a world that seems to be selfish, divided, and angry. But we can be the change we want to see in the world. Sometimes it just takes one shining light in the darkness.

Right is right even if no one else is doing it and wrong is wrong even if everyone else is doing it.

We can be that one person that shows gratitude, kindness, and love to someone else even if they root for a different team, vote for the wrong person, or say something we don’t like.

We don’t have to like someone to say “thank you”.

We don’t have to agree with someone to say “thank you”.

And if someone isn’t nice to us, that still isn’t reason enough to fight fire with fire.

Gandhi used to say, “An eye for an eye makes everyone blind.”

If someone doesn’t thank us for something, we don’t automatically stop doing the right thing. Jesus didn’t quit loving others because 90% of the lepers he cured were ungrateful.

We can’t do everything but we can do something.

We can’t reach everyone but we can reach someone.

If we don’t show the world how to be kind, who will?

 

Jamy Bechler is the author of five books including The Captain and The Bus Trip, host of the Success is a Choice Podcast, professional speaker, and trains organizations on creating championship cultures. He previously spent 20 years as a college basketball coach and administrator.  The Leadership Playbook is Bechler’s online program that helps athletes become better teammates and more positive leaders while strengthening a team’s culture. As a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, Bechler has worked with businesses and teams, including the NBA. Follow him on Twitter at @CoachBechler. To connect with him via email or find out about his services, please contact speaking@CoachBechler.com. You can also subscribe to his insights on success and leadership by clicking here.