Saying thank you
June 5, 2025
By Jeff Becraft
As I’ve said before, my Dad was a great man and my Mom was a great woman. They were two incredible parents. And so, as time goes on, every once in a while, I am going to pass on a lesson or principle from my Dad or Mom that reveals some of their greatness and that can possibly be inspiring to us.
A woman named Tanya Matthews (whom I have mentioned before and is another great person), worked with my Dad for (I think) about 12 years. Whenever she remembers a lesson she learned from my Dad, she will pass that on to us. And that has been an incredible blessing.
The latest one from Tanya is this: “Don’t’ say ‘thanks’… say ‘thank you’ because the ‘you’ is the most important part. It’s like saying “Bless you” when someone sneezes… you are leaving out the most important part: ‘GOD bless you.’
“Once and only once, he gave me something and I said, ‘You shouldn’t have,’ which is an auto-pilot move. He admonished me saying I took some of his joy away in the gift-giving. When someone gives you something, he would say… ‘Say ‘thank you.’ Just ‘thank you.’ I have since eliminated ‘you shouldn’t have’ from my vocabulary! Other gifts he gave me were greeted with “thank you” and a hand-written note card.
“What a fantastic role model.”
Tanya has continued to live out such principles and has been extremely successful… and makes everyone else around her feel important.
Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope and the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Our Place of Hope is a paradigm shift for people living with mental illness that encourages them to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. You can connect with Jeff at [email protected].
