Give Thanks
“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:12
Author Tom Nelson writes: “After attending a conference in New York City, a pastoral colleague, Reid Kapple, was flying home to Kansas City on US Airways flight 745 when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure. As the plane descended quickly, the oxygen masks deployed from above. A sense of fear filled the plane. Reid wondered if he would see his family again.
When the plane reached ten thousand feet, the captain informed the passengers that everything was operational and that they would be landing soon. Breathing a bit easier, Reid looked more closely at the oxygen mask he held in his hand.
He noticed it was manufactured by B/E Aerospace in Lenexa, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb near his family’s home. Later, as Reid was preparing a sermon on the ways that work plays a vital role in loving our neighbors, he thought about the workers at B/E Aerospace who had made the oxygen masks that allowed him to breathe in a plane with lost cabin pressure.
He quickly crafted an email describing what had happened on flight 745, thanking B/E Aerospace for their contribution to his safe return to Kansas City. Pastor Reid concluded his email with these words:
‘If I may be so bold, I would like to thank God for the work he has called and equipped your company to do. I know that not many people think of work like this as being work God cares about, but I strongly beg to differ. I believe that God cares deeply about all work that is done well and promotes human flourishing. So again, thank you for your work. Please, by all means, keep doing what you are doing and do it well for the common good of all. Thankfully, Reid Kapple’
Much to Reid’s surprise, the vice president of B/E Aerospace, J. P. Foulon, quickly responded. He thanked Reid, a pastor he had never met, for his affirming words and invited him to come and share his story with all the employees of the company. Reid enthusiastically accepted the gracious invitation.
A few weeks later, Pastor Reid spoke to the entire company, sharing his story and expressing his gratitude for each person’s work. He told the employees of B/E Aerospace that the work they do, no matter how mindless or meaningless it may feel, matters to God because it matters to their neighbors.
After Reid’s presentation, many employees came up to him afterwards, and with tears in their eyes expressed how much his words meant to them, affirming that Reid’s message had instilled within them a renewed vision, imagination, and joy in their work.”
Give thanks to God and to others continually.
Give thanks to the Lord and ask Him how you can show your gratitude to others.
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert C. Chesterton
“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers” – Philemon 1:4