By Melody Moore
I love my job as a teacher, but sometimes life gets crazy. You know the kind of days: One more meeting. Squeeze this in. Catch! Another no-show for a meeting (third time)! Did I mention that I have to drive across town for my meetings? I can’t write the meeting off, so I reschedule… again. Another report? No problem. Another student move-in? No problem. All the while, trying to teach.
But then… you get the email: “Hey teachers, the student council has Chick-fil-A in the work room for you. Thanks for all your hard work!“
YES! Not just appreciation, but Chick-fil-A appreciation! Somebody has a parent in on this one. The nearest Chick-fil-A is over the river 13 miles away! This isn’t just grabbing food from one of the local fast-food joints. This is folks really going out of their way to give us something that’s not readily available to us. It is the kind of appreciation that is truly felt.
Hopefully, you know what it feels like to be appreciated. It may not be big. It may not be yummy. But at some point, someone show has shown gratitude. I hope you noticed. I hope it hasn’t been too long since you’ve experienced it.
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18 NIV).
The truth is, people (in general) aren’t naturally good at showing appreciation. We have to look for it sometimes. It might just be a smile. We may not even get an audible thank you.
We are often just as guilty. We want to feel appreciated ourselves, but do we really run around showing appreciation towards others on a regular basis? We should. But like any other good habit, it takes time and effort for it to become automatic.
We will serve the Lord by building up his servants. And if we make showing appreciation automatic and spread it out into the world, so much the better! We will be witnessing to, loving on, and building up future brothers and sisters.
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
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