Episode 263: The Power of Thank You

The Power of Thank You Early this week, I needed my four year old son to help me with an item. I asked him “Would you please get your sister’s pair of tight for me? I said ‘thank you’ immediately after the request. Guess what he responded with - “Mom! I did not even say I will go and you said ‘thank you’! That response was a huge surprise to me and I said “come on” with a soft tone. I heard him as he walked off saying “alright”. What a lesson I re-learnt that morning - The power of ‘thank you’! A simple “thank you” is so powerful. A research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that a mere “thank you” more than doubled the likelihood that those providing help would provide assistance again.  The research also found that a ‘thank you” yielded an increase of 50 percent in terms of productivity and an increase of 15 percent in the average amount of time a person spent providing assistance.  The researchers also noted a spill-over effect.  That is, gratitude begets gratitude A good example of a life flowing with thankfulness is Abraham. Abraham was instructed by God to leave his home country and his family to a country where he would show him. Upon arrival at Canaan, the Lord appeared to Abram and said He would give the land to his children. Do you know what Abram did? He built an altar on the place where God appeared to him, to honour the Lord. Abraham did something powerful - he thanked the Lord for appearing to him and giving him an encouraging and re-assuring word. Of a truth, God fulfilled His promises. Psalms 22.3 states that God enthrones in the praises of Israel. He dwells in the praises of His people. “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭22:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ There is no better place to be than where God dwells- in the praises of His people. Do you desire to experience and enjoy the presence of God every single day? Are you desperate to continually bask in the abundance of God’s love and goodness? The key is thankfulness. As we are intentional and mindful of living a thankful and praiseful life to God, His grace will be made available for us to see reason to be thankful even when we do not feel like it. Let us pray Father we thank you for reminding us of the power of ‘thank you’. This is so powerful, that You can use a child to remind us to live thankful lives. We just just want to say thank you Lord.