October Blog 2025
Thankfulness
Dear St Mark’s and Friends,
I wonder how often you say or hear thank you? Is it language you use or hear a lot or a little? Do you just assume people know your thanks or take the time to tell them?
Saying thank you is something that I think is hugely important. I think it helps people feel seen and valued (it does for me), it expresses my/our deep thanks and weirdly, somehow makes me/us feel good. And it’s this last point I’d like to briefly explore today.
We have just gathered our children and youth team together for CAKE. This was an opportunity for Tracy and I to say thank you to those who help with this ministry. Excitingly, we were able to invite over 20 people to the event. We had an incredibly lovely evening, we ate cake, chatted, drank tea, prayed, laughed and heard about the different aspects of this ministry (of which there are a lot!). Thank you again, you beautiful and wonderful team!
For me, CAKE came towards the beginning of the busiest term in the year and although it is about saying thank you to our team, it was an evening that brought me a lot of life. I’m always intrigued as to how giving out – whether time, finance, love, friendship, skills, taking time to thank or anything else – can make us feel good.
It reminds me of worship – in all its fullness not just musical – when I spend time with God, when I sing worship songs, when I read my Bible, when I pray, when I give, I feel good. Not because I have focused on me, not always because I hope I will feel good, but it is a beautiful by-product, a gift freely given.
I am not always as good at saying thank you to God as I’d like to be, but when I do, the same thing happens, somehow, I feel good. I feel like I have connected into something bigger and more powerful than me. I wonder, when you pray do you remember to thank God for the answered prayers and good things that have happened since you last spoke to him?
October is a time when we celebrate harvest. It’s a time to say thank you to God for his provision to us and hopefully a time when we choose to share that thanks and those gifts with others as well. If you’d like to, take some (extra) time this month to focus on saying and showing thanks. When you do, how does it make you feel? I’d love to hear your stories.
Thank you for being part of St Mark’s and joining with us to Love God and Make His Love Known.
God Bless,
Cat