Thanks and appreciation for others

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 (NLT)
4 I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5 Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge.

Paul begins most of his epistles with thanksgiving to God for his friends and prayer for them. The best way of manifesting our affection to our friends is by praying and giving thanks for them. It is one branch of the communion of saints to give thanks to God mutually for our gifts, graces, and comforts. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

 

 

Business researchers call it "the missing ingredient" or "the hidden accelerator." Most managers could transform their workplaces with this missing ingredient: showing appreciation. That's the focus of a recent book entitled The Carrot Principle by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. Based on a ten-year study that interviewed 200,000 people, Gostick and Elton conclude that appreciation tops the list of things employees say they want from their bosses. Some of the statistics to back up this claim include:

 Of the people who report high morale at work, 94.4 percent agree that their managers show appreciation.

 

79 percent of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as the key reason for leaving.

56 percent of employees who report low morale also give their managers low marks for showing appreciation.

Of course these statistics tap into a fundamental need in all of our relationships: the need to give and receive affirmation and blessing. The authors of The Carrot Principle conclude, "The simple … act of a leader [or a spouse, parent, coach, mentor, or friend] expressing appreciation to a person in a meaningful … way is the missing accelerator that can do so much but is used so sparingly."

[Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, The Carrot Principle (Free Press, 2007), pp. 7-14.]

 

Let us try to do as the Apostle Paul by giving thanks and appreciation to those who are around us. Let us take time to thank people for their efforts. Let us tell them how much we appreciate them and acknowledge the good qualities in them. If we do we will find ourselves not only transforming them, but transforming ourselves.