Thank You Is Enough

A little hope among your Black Friday promotions

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
― Meister Eckhart

I began to write a longer followup to last month’s piece on mental health. I hope to finish that soon. For now, I want to say thank you. The reactions to that piece have been both interesting and meaningful. I received very personal email responses from folks sharing their own stories. Others shared gratitude and encouragement. My favorite, though, has been to run into readers in real life (yes, that still happens). At concerts and shows and other places, people have said things like “I read your posts” — which I also take to mean “I have my struggles too” — or that my words offer a little hope.

It’s not easy to talk about what really matters.

Sometimes simply sharing your words can open up a conversation. The thing about any true conversation is that you can’t control it. You say one thing, but you don’t know how it will be received. There’s so much risk in conversation.

The risk comes from sharing a few words, a piece of art, a song, a story, a dream into the world. Keeping those beautiful things within is really a form of control—that hurts both ourselves and the world. I heard a profound quote from Andre Lorde the other day: “Your silence will not protect you.” Strange how so many of us go through life silent about our truths, our hopes, our disappointments, our doubts, our dreams.

This Thanksgiving morning my wife and I took our daughter and her cousins to volunteer at a Thanksgiving breakfast for our homeless neighbors in Winston-Salem. There were way more volunteers there than homeless folk, so we had plenty of time to be a welcoming presence at the YMCA in addition to offering Sunny D and coffee and pancakes to those in need.

I ran into a friend there who I attended divinity school with. She runs a really awesome nonprofit helping make our city a better place and inspiring people to serve others. Since there were so many volunteers, we had plenty of time to catch up. She shared how much she valued my vulnerability in my writing and songs—referring especially to my last piece. This opened up a beautiful and winding conversation about her own story of dealing with mental health.

I said the only thing I could in response: “Thank you.”

Because thank you is enough.

If I’ve not said it enough, may I say it more often: thank you.

For catching up with friends…

For jaunts in the woods…

For music and laughter…

For tables filled to the brim with abundance and surrounded by fellow strugglers…

For those who take the risk to break the silence…

Thank you is enough.

-Kyle