LLLV17 11-16-2017 Bonhoeffer, Cicero and Graham on Gratitude
The letters and sermons this month are based on the feeling of gratitude and the expressing of thanks. Life takes on a brighter hue when we learn the personal value of gratitude and the acknowledging of thankfulness to someone. Dearest friends and complete strangers are touched by a sincere “thank you.” If you don’t believe it, try it today.
A man, at the time he wrote today’s quote, was living in one of Hitler’s prisons. Notice what he wrote from his prison cell concerning gratitude:
“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison.
We should never ignore or forget that wherever we are on life’s pecking order, we got there with the help of lots of what the world calls “little people.”
Take the near legendary figure of our lifetime, Billy Graham. Most people have of the miracle in Billy’s life that came upon him while he was preaching a crusade in Los Angles. The biggest newspaper tycoon of the time, William Randolph Hearst sent a note to his papers around the world, “Puff Graham.” Overnight Billy Graham become world famous religious figure. Most fail to consider that by the time Mr. Hearst “puffed Graham,” Billy was already touching the lives of hundreds of thousand “little” people. Certainly, God was touching Billy.
In my reading of Dr. Graham over these many years, it is apparent by his demeanor of gratitude that he remembers the Christ who saved him and the little people that have banded together in the millions and thus participated in the phenomenal ministry.
It’s probable that anyone engaged in endeavors to reach the summit, openly or privately long for a “Puff” from some big wheel. The truth be known we will make more progress by being thankful for the “little” people that are drawn to our product or ministry and taking steps of gratitude to assure them of our sincere thanks for whatever they have and are offering to aid us along the way. The last phrase of Bonhoeffers’ letter is right on: “what we owe to the help of others.”
Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
IT that works. Oral Deckard
The letters and sermons this month are based on the feeling of gratitude and the expressing of thanks. Life takes on a brighter hue when we learn the personal value of gratitude and the acknowledging of thankfulness to someone. Dearest friends and complete strangers are touched by a sincere “thank you.” If you don’t believe it, try it today.
A man, at the time he wrote today’s quote, was living in one of Hitler’s prisons. Notice what he wrote from his prison cell concerning gratitude:
“In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison.
We should never ignore or forget that wherever we are on life’s pecking order, we got there with the help of lots of what the world calls “little people.”
Take the near legendary figure of our lifetime, Billy Graham. Most people have of the miracle in Billy’s life that came upon him while he was preaching a crusade in Los Angles. The biggest newspaper tycoon of the time, William Randolph Hearst sent a note to his papers around the world, “Puff Graham.” Overnight Billy Graham become world famous religious figure. Most fail to consider that by the time Mr. Hearst “puffed Graham,” Billy was already touching the lives of hundreds of thousand “little” people. Certainly, God was touching Billy.
In my reading of Dr. Graham over these many years, it is apparent by his demeanor of gratitude that he remembers the Christ who saved him and the little people that have banded together in the millions and thus participated in the phenomenal ministry.
It’s probable that anyone engaged in endeavors to reach the summit, openly or privately long for a “Puff” from some big wheel. The truth be known we will make more progress by being thankful for the “little” people that are drawn to our product or ministry and taking steps of gratitude to assure them of our sincere thanks for whatever they have and are offering to aid us along the way. The last phrase of Bonhoeffers’ letter is right on: “what we owe to the help of others.”
Copyright © 2017 Larry Lilly
IT that works. Oral Deckard
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