It was perhaps inevitable that I’d hear them said whilst watching the ‘The Repair Shop’ this week. The two little words were spoken by a lady who had just had returned to her what once had seemed an irreparable clay poppy, one that was, for her, a precious reminder of her now deceased dad. It had been handed back to her by ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsey who had somehow managed to make it as good as new once more.
Expressed so genuinely, I was struck by just how significant, how beautiful even, a ‘thank you’ can be.
For the person saying those words, it is an appreciation of the help that has been received, a humble acknowledgement of the need of others, a recognition that in this life we can not make it through alone.
And to the one to whom it is said, it is a confirmation that the assistance given was all they hoped it would be, it completes the joy that is inherent in aiding others, a reassurance that all that had been hoped for has finally been achieved.
But here’s the thing, genuine acts of kindness don’t indebt the one to whom that kindness was shown. For if it did it would not have been an act of kindness at all. Kirsten Ramsey is not now sat at her workbench waiting to be repaid, like some curmudgeonly relative who at Christmas, not having received a thank you letter by Boxing Day afternoon, is all affronted for not being lauded in the way they had expected for the oh so generous gift of a pair of black socks. Not at all, Kirsten Ramsey is, I’m sure, thrilled to have been able to help, the delight on the face of the one she was able to assist, reward enough for her endeavours.
And what is true on the horizontal plane is, I believe, true in the vertical direction too. What is true between we who live and breath on earth is equally true between we and the one one dwells above.
Helpless in the face of our wrongdoing, we need someone to come to our rescue, to repair a broken relationship that we can do nothing about. And recognising the restoration that has been brought about through the death of Jesus on our behalf, we too express our heartfelt appreciation, a ‘thank you’ that, though not demanded is, nonetheless, delighted in.
Because Jesus’ dying in a cross for us does not create a debt – it pays one. The one that we could never pay, so great is our wrongdoing.
So, like the owner of that now repaired clay poppy who has, no doubt, spoken to many of her acquaintances of Kirsten’s amazing restoration, our gratitude to God will similarly overflow in our excitedly telling others of all that he has done.
It is not Jesus then, who needs our praise, it is we who need to express it. For Jesus delights in our salvation and it was for the joy that was set before him that Jesus endured the cross. [Hebrews 12:2].
And we delight to praise Him, for in so doing is the pinnacle of our joy.
As C.S. Lewis once said:
‘I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.’
Other ‘The Repair Shop’ related posts:
To read ‘The Repair Shop at the end of the year’, click here
To read ‘The Repair Shop’, click here
To read ‘Brian and Stumpy visit The Repair Shop’, click here
To read ‘The State of Disrepair Shop’, click here
To read ‘We went to the animal fair – the diary of a novice grandparent’, click here
Other related blogs:
To read ‘Gratitude and Regret’, click here
To read “Hope comes from believing the promises of God”, click here
To read ‘on the FALLEN and the FELLED’, click here
Some musings 