Pastor learns the power of thanksgiving

TEHUACANA—Giving thanks to others can make as great an impact on the giver as on the recipient, said Dale McDaniel, pastor of First Baptist Church in Tehuacana, outside Mexia.

McDaniel learned the power of saying “thank you” years ago when he worked as a therapist with a Vietnam veteran. When he asked the man what he could do that would be meaningful to him, the veteran asked him to thank every Vietnam veteran he met.

Pastor Dale McDaniel preaches at First Baptist Church in Tehuacana.“I have done that since the late ’70s. People have just opened up. They have cried. I told them, ‘All I did was say thank you.’ And they said, ‘No one’s ever done that before,’” he recalled.

His attitude of gratitude widened its scope a few years ago after his small, rural congregation provided him a trip to Israel.

“As I was out in the desert, I thought: ‘How is it that you got here? Who provided the opportunity for you, really, to be here?’ I started thinking through my life, realizing I didn’t get here on my own merit. I got here because people helped me,” he said.

“This was a gift not only from the people of my church, but this was a gift of those people in my life who thought I had some potential, and loved and supported me.”

Remembering those who helped

McDaniel started thinking of people who had helped him along his path, all the way back to college, “because I wasn’t real smart when I was in school.”

Other students and faculty at Hardin-Simmons University taught him how to study, and he went from being on the verge of failing classes to earning both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree.

“As I was walking in the desert, I began thinking that I had never thanked those people for what they had done for me,” he said.

He began making a list of people who had made an investment in his life—a list of people to whom thanks was due.

He decided whenever possible, he wanted to present his thanks in person—not through a telephone call or email.

The response has been universally satisfying to both parties. Most did not even realize they were such an encouragement to McDaniel. So, it has helped him to know he has encouraged them.

Time to say ‘thank you’

No one gets to any position in life without the input of others, he observed. Take time to think about who those people are and say “thank you,” McDaniel said.

He has not completed his initial list yet, and his list keeps growing as he thinks of other names he needs to add. But he has experienced an unexpected benefit.

“It has encouraged me to pour my life into other people,” McDaniel said. “I want to make a conscious effort to do so.”

It also has made him a different kind of pastor, he noted.

“I realize now that grace is two-sided. We can receive it, but we can’t keep it. Jesus has so freely given to us, and we need to freely give to others—not just by saying thanks, but by pouring our lives into them,” McDaniel said.

Saying “thank you” is a good practice for everyone, he added. It is arrogant for people to think they arrived at their current stage in life without the aid of others.

“We need to tell those people, ‘You made a difference in my life.’ They don’t know. They need that encouragement,” McDaniel said.