Thank You!
After
Morning Prayer the sisters walk from chapel to breakfast. The first one holds
the door. Each sister says Thank You. Saturday when I ran the dishwasher I was
thanked over and over as sisters brought their dishes in to the scullery. There
was a time when I wondered why they were expressing gratitude for such a
simple, ordinary, and daily task.
Emails
cross in the air many times a day. Some request information or a document,
which, when sent, prompts a Thank You email. I have also wondered about these.
Should we be clogging up someone’s Inbox with a two-word message?
It’s
not just the monastery. People enter a store, and while passing through glance
behind them to see if anyone is nearby, and then hold the door. Someone in the
grocery line motions to you to cut in because you have only two items.
Sure,
there is rudeness in the world, and sometimes in the monastery too. I have a
growing awareness, though, of the abundance of sincere gratitude that is here
and elsewhere, founded on respect and care, person to person.
You’re Welcome!
