A Gift of Gratitude

So a friend of mine stopped by the house, while I was going through my 30 years of memories.

Jason moved to my little town when we were Juniors in high school. Jason was in my wedding. Jason and I were really close back in the day. Jason was a great friend.

In the 60 minutes I spent with Jason, we caught up on what our lives look like now and how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other the last time. But then Jason stopped and looked at me straight in the face.

For the next 2 minutes, Jason told me what a difference I had made in his life. He shared that that Junior year of high school had made the difference in the trajectory of his life. He shared that when he moved to my town, there was a small window when his heart was open to a new direction. And in that time, we had introduced him to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

As he stood to leave, he grabbed my hand and said, “Matt, I just had to see you and tell you that I have an amazing Godly marriage and am raising my 3 kids to know how to pray and to know the Lord and it’s all because of you. And I just couldn’t miss this chance to tell you what a difference you’ve made in my life.”

Wow. It was an incredible moment, where you struggle to know what to say. So I said nothing. Nothing but, “you’re welcome.” In that moment, anything that would have come out of my mouth would have cheapened what had just come out of his.

That day Jason gave me a gift I’ll keep with me for the rest of my life. The memorabilia from my childhood got thrown away, but his life is changed forever.

Matt