Devotion for the Second Week of Advent

I remember being told an old legend about a servant whose master died and left her a bag full of blessings.

The master left a message for the servant telling her that the bag would always be full as long as she remembered the four special words. Unfortunately, the servant had lost the note and forgot the four words and was almost out of blessings. Finally she went to a wise man who suggested that possibly the four magic words were, I WISH I HAD. "I wish I had this. I wish I had that."

She tried thinking of all the things she wanted, but the bag was not replenished. She then approached a person who happened to be passing her on the street. The stranger suggested, "Well maybe the four magic words are GIVE ME SOME MORE."

So the servant continued her journey and kept saying, "Give me some more. Give me some more. Give me some more." But the bag was now almost totally empty. In despair she sat down, lonely and heavy hearted.

She took a piece of bread out of her pack and began to eat it. A hungry child off of the street, alone and abandoned, approached her and asked her for the bread. It was obvious the child was in desperate need. So, without even thinking about it, the servant gave the child some bread. Before the child ate, though, she folded her little hands and said a blessing: "I thank you Lord."

All of a sudden the servant's eyes lighted up and she started dancing around in the street. She began chanting loudly: "That's it. That's it. The four special words: I THANK YOU LORD." Soon the bag was filled with blessings once again.

May we remember to say "I thank you lord" during this most holy season.

I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. Psalms 118:21