Did you send that thank you note?

I am the first to admit I am the worst at sending thank you notes.  It is not that I am not grateful, thankful, humbled by someone thinking of me; none of that.  I could give every excuse, I forgot, I can't find the words, I couldn't find the address; but the real reason is probably because I get distracted by my own agenda, my own priorities. 

In this week's Gospel according to Luke, Jesus heals ten men with leprosy but only one, a Samaritan, returns to say "thank you".  Why didn't the others?  Those with leprosy were forbidden to come in contact with others or at least had to give warning to those they came in contact with of their affliction.  If the leprosy was believed to have been cured or was in remission, they had to be declared free of the disease by a priest.  Jesus had sent them to the priest before they were healed and they took off!  They responded in faith; so maybe they felt they were simply following His instructions.  Or, did they simply receive the gift of being delivered from their trial and move on with their lives?  Distracted by their own agenda, their priorities. 
When we find ourselves in fiery trials, I believe there are 3 ways our faith can be played out. We can ask to be totally delivered from the the trial and our faith will be built at least for a while.  We can pray to be delivered through the trial and our faith will be refined.  Finally, we may be delivered by the fire into our father's loving hands and there our faith is perfected.
I believe this thankful man saw that his faith had played a role in his being delivered through this fire and his only natural response was one of thanksgiving.  I believe this man's faith was refined through this healing and his ONLY response was "Thank You!"

My children grew up with Barney singing the "Please and thank you, they are the magic words" song.  We still sing it as a reminder when a simple "please" or "thank you" has been neglected.  When we recognize those moments of God's grace and mercy through our trials and we stop to whisper those words of thanks this opens an opportunity for Him to grow our faith.  Let us not grow weary in being thankful and showing that thankfulness so that God may continue to grow our understanding of His grace through faith.