When my son Graham was in college he started his own quiet Thanksgiving tradition, writing a little thank-you note—or rather, a thank-you email—to a teacher or coach or mentor who had made a lasting impact on his life. I didn’t know about this tradition until many years later but the beauty and simplicity of it made my mothering heart proud. His idea of “paying it backwards” stayed with me, and I wondered why more of us don’t take the time to thank the people who help make us who we are. The people beyond our own family—or sometimes even in lieu of a family who just can’t give us what we need—who help form the character traits and habits that we carry into adulthood.
Graham went on to graduate from Cal State Long Beach and we cheered him on once again. That very same year I began my MA in Theology and, two years later, my kids came to cheer me on, posting all over socials, “Presenting the Queen of the Graduation. Heather Davis. Master of Theology!”
Flash forward to February, 2024. I’d been working with songwriters and musicians around the country thru The Songwriter Initiative for 4 years when a young worship leader named Sam Barnett joined the group. He was fresh out of Concordia Irvine with a degree in Commercial Music and someone suggested he join our TSI Slack songwriting community. Kip Fox paired us up for Sam’s very first co-write and we delighted in an easy shorthand. It felt like we’d known each other for years. We first wrote a song called The Struggle Is Real. It came together so quickly that we weren’t sure what to do with the remaining three weeks of the co-writing time. “Hey,” I said. “You want to write another one? I have an idea I think might speak to your heart.”
I told him about Graham’s tradition and Sam said, “I’m in!” We both thought it could make a beautiful song. Turns out, it did.
Like You Taught Me To is a song about gratitude. It was born of the legacy of love passed down from a mother to her son, from her son to those who helped shape him, and on again to another “son” so that this message of thanks might be shared with the wider world.
Our hope and prayer is that when you hear this simple Thanksgiving tune you’ll take a moment to think of that one teacher or coach or pastor or mentor who taught you the things that have come to shape how you move through the world. Maybe even reach out and let them know they made a difference, mindful that we don’t have forever to say thanks.
Heather Choate Davis 