One way of cultivating thankfulness (and I do believe that spiritual growth requires a lot of cultivation – whilst I may hate gardening in the natural realm, I’m learning that there’s no substitute for regular pruning, weeding and cultivating in the spiritual realm!) is to regularly show appreciation for other people. It helps us to have an outlook that focuses on others more than on ourselves and it helps the people to whom we show appreciation to feel valued and noticed. So often, people serve faithfully and regularly, but we get used to this and fail to consider the sacrifices they make and the difference their service brings to our lives.
We train our children in good manners, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, because appreciation oils the wheels of service. We need not only to express our appreciation of God in praise, worship and thanksgiving, but also to express our appreciation of other people. Thank you notes, sending flowers, giving small gifts and simply showing good manners in how we treat people are all ways of showing appreciation. Such things send out the message that we value the person, recognise the contribution they make and respect them.
Appreciation is needed in the home (not taking Mum for granted for all the washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking and organising she does, thanking Dad for emptying the bins and fixing the broken stuff, for example) and at work (not assuming X will always make drinks or buy the milk or do the photocopying but appreciating that he does these things) and in the church. THANK YOU to all who serve at GPCC so faithfully in so many different, often unseen, and frequently unacknowledged roles. You really are valued by us and appreciated!
