Doctor's Prescription

Author A. J. Cronin once told of a doctor in Wales who often prescribed a unique medicine for certain emotionally disturbed patients. "For six weeks," advised the doctor, "I want you to say 'thank you' whenever anybody does you a favor; and show you mean it, emphasize the words with a smile."

Often the patients retorted, "But no one ever does me a favor, doctor!" - whereupon the doctor would just smile and say, "Seek and you will find."

More often than not, the patients would return with an entirely new outlook on life, their health restored. If we would learn to do the same - especially saying "thank you" to God for every blessing - it would give us a whole new outlook on each day. "Nothing brightens life,"wrote A. J. Cronin, as much as the spirit of thanksgiving."

Charles Allen, Prayer Changes Things (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1964), 91-92

Turning Points

November 2005

Page 14-15

Gratitude; Thanksgiving; Thankfulness