do it continually...

your act of appreciation needs to be regular.

2 thessalonians 2.13 (jerusalem bible), we ought to continually thank GOD for you.  galatians 6.10 (living bible), whenever we can we should always be kind to everyone, and especially to our CHRISTian brothers.  Note, “continually” and “whenever”.  king james version, as we have the opportunity. 

it needs to be constant, not just once a year but all the time. why?  because it lifts people up.  somebody said, “a pat on the back gets more results than a kick in the pants.” 

a boss asks a secretary, “would you get me some coffee?” secretary:  “why certainly!”  boss:  “thank you.”  secretary: “you’re welcome!”  same lady goes home.  her husband says, “would you get me some coffee?”  she says, “what’s the matter?  your arm broken?  get it yourself!”  what's the difference?  the atmosphere of appreciation makes all the difference in the world.

paul says, whenever we can we should always be kind to everyone. he means give people flowers while they can smell them.  a single rose given while somebody’s alive is much more valuable than a wreath at a funeral. 

alex haley, the guy who wrote roots, when he was in the navy he told this story.  at the end of thanksgiving, he had prepared meals on his ship for everybody and went downstairs, got into his bunk and was thinking about the word, “thanksgiving”.  he said he reversed the words “thanksgiving – giving thanks”.  he started thinking, “who do i need to be thankful to?  who do i need to be thankful for?”  he said he made a list of eight people who had dramatically affected his life positively.  he thought he should write a letter to those people and then realized that four of those people had already died.  so he decided to write the others before another one passed on.  he was going to write a letter and say, “thank you for the impact you've made in my life.”  the rest of the article tells how those people's lives were affected by his thank you note. 

just a thought from the front porch…