Dear Friends,
“Tom, I was especially moved by this installment of your
leadership emails. Thanks so much for sharing with us your heart regarding your
dad. Also thank you for that beautiful video. May God continue to bless you and
your family with Faith & Love, and may you be in good health. Warmly, John
Grove.”
These words greeted me as I opened my computer this morning
wondering what I might share with those of you who receive these daily
Leadership Thoughts. I have only seen John a few times in the last 40 years. He
was a gifted and caring student assistant of mine in my second church in
Philadelphia, Pa, and today he pastors a church in N.W. Jersey where he has
faithfully labored for over 40 years.
It probably only a minute or so to type out his few words, but
the magnitude of their meaning will not be quickly forgotten. John was
simply and thoughtfully saying "thanks," and thanks is a
wonderful word to hear, especially as one starts out this new week of ministry.
Mother Theresa was right when she wrote, "Kind words are
short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless,” Long ago I memorized
those words, and I have always tried to live them out as I endeavor to impact
and influence the lives of the people I meet and know.
It takes so little time to encourage someone, yet how often we
miss those opportunities to lift them up with a few words, whether they be
spoken or written.
Today I printed out John’s short but kind and thoughtful
message, and I have placed them in my "Bible file cabinet,"
where in one of the first Bibles ever given to me, I keep all the
encouraging notes I have received over the years of my ministry. From time to
time, I will open the cover of that bible and those letters will spill
out, and I take a few minutes to read a message or two, and then
with a short prayer of thanks, they are tucked back into my bible, saved to be
read again some other day.
One of my favorite verses, and one I try to live out daily in my
ministry is 1 Thessalonians 5:11, where Paul writes, “Therefore encourage and
build one another up, just as you are already doing.”
Is there someone you know who needs to be built up and encouraged?
When God puts that person on your heart, why not do as my friend John did, take
a few minutes to write that note or type out that e-mail, or better yet, give
that person a personal call. I promise if you do, it will not only bless you,
but I guarantee it will make their day a little brighter, just as John’s note
did for me.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
P.S. “Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” Gertrude
Stein
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