Remember that wonderful Gospel story about the ten lepers who came to Jesus to be healed.  He obliged them by sending them to wash in a stream.  They did so and found they had been healed.  Only one (1) of them returned to say “thank you!”

We have days like that, don’t we?  We offer ourselves; good things happen and only “one” returns to say “thank you!”  It’s really like that when you work in the vacuum called “cyberspace” where we can put forth our best effort and wonder if anyone is paying attention.  The silence can be deafening!

Then something wonderful happens!  Someone who took a taste of what we offered came back to say - “thank you, it is good!”  How awesome it is when that happens.  I’m sure Jesus felt the same way when the lonely “one” returned to express his gratitude for being healed at the hands of the great healer!

But that isn’t all there is to the Gospel story.  As I recall, Jesus taught his beloved 12 that is how life is.  He wouldn’t say it quite this way - but basically it’s the modern equivalent of “you win some and lose some”.  You often give much more than you get in return - and that’s basically okay.  Still, it’s a source of bewilderment and some discouragement when 10 get ‘healed’ and only “one” remembers to thank the Person who made it all possible.

How often do we go back to the source of some significant learning or brilliant piece of wisdom we’ve gained to say “thank you”.  Perhaps it was a favored teacher who encouraged us when others only saw our flaws.  No matter who the person, it’s important to let them know they had a positive impact that made a difference.

Yet life lived out in a world that passes all too quickly, makes more of the messes we make.  It’s easier to tell someone what a sc_ _ _ up they are.  It seems that when the moment of crisis is over and we have emerged from the spring clean and clear - we romp off without a backwards glance.  Why is that?

Jesus often lamented the human condition!  He understood it so well, loved it to the marrow of His bones, but despaired of it often as when He sat on the hillside on the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem.  How joyful he was that the “one” returned; how ‘peeved’ He was with the “nine” who did not.

My encouragement for the day is to take time to “return” to those who’ve touched us in a significantly positive way.  Those who’ve made an impact that may have gone unacknowledged, but not unforgotten.  Make today the day you ‘gird up your cloak’ and ‘run all the way back’ to the ones who made it possible - if only to smile and say “thank you!”

Have an awesome day with much love and sunshine in your soul!

Linda, a fellow journeyor