A few years ago, I traveled to Brazil with a buddy of mine, a businessman from Milwaukee. As we were checking in for the long flight at the Delta ticket counter at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, my friend said, “I want to do something.” He gave the lady checking me in his frequent flyer number and said, “I’d like to upgrade my friend to first class.”
“Whoo, you’ve got a nice friend,” the lady at the counter said.
She was right. I had never been in first class before. I got to be one of the first passengers to board. When I stepped onto the plane, instead of turning right, I got to turn left. I walked to my seat and sat down like a kid in a candy store. A couple hours into the flight, they fed me sushi and braised duck. They gave me a hot damp towel for my face. The experience was over the top. Every once in a while, I’d look back through the curtain at the losers in coach. I was in first class! I liked first class. I might never be in first class again, but I sure did like it.
The thing about flying first class was I didn’t do a thing to get there. My buddy earned the points that got me there.
You know what you call that? Amazing grace.
Have you noticed we often miss all the amazing grace that has been poured out on us?
For instance, husbands, when was the last time you kissed your wife like you really meant it and said, “Thank you for being in my life. You are a blessing from God”? When was the last time you hugged your kid and said, “I am so thankful God let me be your parent”? When was the last time you went to your boss and said, “I’m thankful to have this job”? When was the last time you spent a day simply thankful for all God has given you?
I’d like to give you the Ten–Person Challenge. Sometime in the next week, and it can be on social media, via a phone call, a handwritten note, or even a text, thank ten people who have influenced you or have been a blessing in your life. Just tell ten people what they’ve meant to you.
I’ll start with the three people you see in the picture below. I’m so thankful to be Kim’s husband, and Chase and Madison’s dad. They truly are blessings from God.
Speaking of my family, if you were to visit my house, you would see on the wall as you come into the kitchen something we call The Adams Family Mission. We wrote these words as a family and then had them made into a plaque. One of the lines in it asks God to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others.
We’re asking for God’s blessings, but there’s a catch to it. I believe God wants to bless us so that we can bless other people. And maybe, just maybe, God will stir inside of us this overwhelming gratitude. Let’s live every day with hearts full of thanksgiving.
