I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but this week is Community Health Center Week. This week is designated as an opportunity to learn and be grateful for the incredible work community health centers do in our neighborhoods each and every day, often without a lot of fanfare or gratitude!
That has reminded me that our lives are often filled with people I would call Unsung Heroes. People who just go about doing good in their part of the world, often without a need for thanks or recognition, and often without actually receiving much appreciation or recognition for what they do.
Several years ago, my spouse had the opportunity to meet one of her favorite authors, who also happens to be one of her "distant heroes" (you know, those people that have made an impact on your life from a distance, and they don't even know who you are). She was able to chat with this personal hero and thank her for who she is. She said something like, "I'm sure people tell you this all the time, but thanks so much for doing your work for yourself, because it helped me continue to do my own work too." Her hero then replied (with tears in her eyes), "Actually, no one has ever thanked me for that before!"
That incident made us realize that often we assume people hear words of gratitude and thanks for the work they do and the people they are in the world, but the reality is, those messages often go unsaid! In other words, there are a lot of Unsung Heroes around us!
Since that encounter, we've tried to make a commitment to actually telling people how we feel about them and what we appreciate about who they are in the world. And it's been really interesting the number of times we've heard, "Actually no one has ever told me that before!"
So, as you look around your life this week, who is someone you think might be an Unsung Hero? Rather than assume they know how you feel, what if you took the time to actually tell them? If saying it out loud feels like a challenge, could you send them a note or an email? What might happen if all of us who are reading this message committed to telling one Unsung Hero how we feel about them this week? And who is it that is already on your mind and heart? Go ahead. Tell them.
Here's to speaking life and light into an Unsung Hero this week!
Be Well,
Stephen
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