Why do so many of us forget to give thanks? Why do we have a national holiday reminding us to acknowledge our blessings? Perhaps we are too busy. Or maybe it slips our minds because so many other thoughts come first. It is good for us to ponder the importance and unleashed power of these two words: thank you. In our reading today, Paul tells the believers in Rome how thankful to God he is for them (v. 8). Perhaps the reason Paul didn’t forget to mention he was thankful for them was that his whole life was a life of gratitude for his fellow believers. In verse 9, Paul says that God is his witness, and He has kept him accountable for how often he remembered to give thanks for his friends in Rome. He remembers them “constantly” (v. 9). Paul and his friends in Rome were able to encourage one another in the faith. They shared a bond as Christ followers that didn’t just make them alike but also caused them to grow “strong” (v. 11) in their faith. In verses 11 and 12, we see that Paul longed to see them for mutual encouragement. We know from Romans 16 that the people in Rome were considered some of Paul’s closest friends and family members. In his closing greeting, he names them one by one. Paul was so incredibly thankful to God for them that he makes it a point at the beginning and the end of his letter to let them know how much he appreciated them. What is more, he is abundantly clear how thankful he was to God for them. Even in the midst of his longing to see his old friends, he remembered to thank God, because he recognized that two of the most powerful words in the world are thank you.