April 14 Can You Give And Get Ten?

We all like to be appreciated. That is what a thank you is at its deepest level. It is used as a part of our culture as a common courtesy though. Its value can easily be overlooked. A thank you is something that we can aim and strive for in business.

As a leader, what do you think is your ratio of thank you's? What I mean to ask is a twofold question. The two questions are how many thank you's are our teams giving and the other question is how many we are receiving.

If our service and products are delivered in the most spectacular manner, we might have a very high ratio of customers giving us thanks. But there might be a correlation between the number that we are actually giving. How many thank you's are we giving to our customers and to our teams?

Those two answers create the thank you ratio. What is your thank you ratio for your entire organization? My organizations are better when we are increasing the ratio toward the giving side. Would your organization be a better, stronger, more attractive organization if the ratio were higher?

What is the first thing you might do to increase that ratio?

On his way to Jerusalem, Luke tells us in chapter 17, that Jesus saw ten lepers standing at a distance. They were crying out to him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus reacted by healing them and sent them on to the priests where rituals of Jewish law would need to be followed.

One of the lepers, after seeing he was healed, came back to Jesus, and fell at his feet thanking him for what he had done. Did you see the thank you ratio? It was one of ten? It is interesting to me that the ratio was only 10% of the healed thanked Jesus for this miraculous healing.

As followers of Christ, we are saved from our sins. We have all the reasons in the world, that is all our sins, to be thankful for Christ's sacrifice. When we awaken in the morning, are we thankful and appreciative of the day?

When the sun has crossed the sky and we lay our heads to rest, will we close the day with thanks again? Will we choose to be with the nine lepers that chose not to thank God for the miracles of the day? What are you thankful for today?

Maybe we can improve our personal ratio of thankfulness. What is the first thing you can do to make that improvement?

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we thank you for the creation of the world and for our ability to be in relationship with each other. Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice on the cross to be in relationship with us. Holy Spirit, we are thankful that you touch us here in our world with the breath of God.

May our relationships with one another be full of thanks. We thank you as we grow with you through the difficulties of this world. Guide us Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,