I don’t believe there isn’t a person around, who if they were honest, would admit they’ve said something before just because it was the right thing to say.

When I was much younger, I would walk into whatever establishment I was entering and whoever was behind me were on their own to open the door. That sounds very rude to me now but when you are young and trying to come across as a cool or tough guy, it seemed fine.

I came from a large family and when it came to everyone sitting down to eat dinner, if you weren’t a little aggressive, you may not get any food to eat. Often someone would be heard to say; pass me this or that and after that happened, you would just go about eating your food.

Don’t get me wrong, our parents taught us kids manners but for some reason, saying thank you or please, was not on their list of having manners. To us, it wasn’t seen as being rude or unappreciative because we didn’t say please or thank you, it just wasn’t something we were taught as the right thing to do.

As I got older, I realized saying please and thank you was something I should say when someone did something for me, but it took me a while to get in the habit of doing that.

Trust me when I say, being or acting disrespectful to my parents or relatives or even one another, was not something that was tolerated in any way and punishment was the result if any of us kids acted that way.

Today, I always open the door for anyone who is walking behind me and the response one hopes to hear for doing that is ‘Thank you’ but that isn’t always the case.

If someone on the other hand holds the door for me, I always make sure I say ‘Thank You’ to them. Most people respond by saying ‘Your welcome’ but again not everyone does

As I’ve gotten older, I find myself saying ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ a lot but I wonder if those words have sadly become just a knee jerk reaction to something that was done for me; words I’ve become accustomed to say. Am I truly thankful??

The other day the Lord did something for me that I was not expecting Him to do and I said, “Thank You Lord!”  A few moments later I thought to myself, did I really mean what I said or were they just words I had become accustomed to say.

Psalm 104:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name”  

Think about it my friend, could we ever say ‘Thank You Lord” enough, The Word says “His love endures forever.” The Lord loves and blesses us always and He never gets tired of doing that.

The Lord doesn’t say, “I have to bless them because they expect it from Me.” The Lord never tires blessing His children and He always does it with so much joy in His heart.

Check your heart to see if you have become accustomed to entering His gates, His courts with all the right words but not the right heart attitude!