I’m a Thanksgiving purist. No Christmas music. No tree. In heaven, we’ll be eating stuffing and mashed sweet potatoes. And this year I’m grateful for your help kicking off this newsletter. Thank you!!
In the run-up to Thanksgiving, I’ve been reading and thinking about appreciation. How you appreciate people has consequences for both their work and their spiritual lives. One resource I’ve tapped is John Ortberg’s podcast. I share the link and a take-home point below. And as promised, I’ve got a Christmas shopping resource for the women in your life. They’ll appreciate it, and so will hundreds of other women.
Give Thanks and Journey On,
~Mark
Mark King
Mark@BruisedCamels.com | LinkedIn
Business | Motivating People
Workplace Appreciation Can Change Eternity
What would happen if you, a Christian businessperson, expressed appreciation differently than your co-workers?
In his TEDx Bellevue talk, Mike Robbins describes the most powerful type of appreciation. Spoiler alert: it’s much more powerful to appreciate the person than their work. No one is saying reward, praise, or sugar coat substandard work with fake or shallow appreciation. That’s a lie people see through. What people do highly value, especially when they fall short, is being appreciated as a person.
Robbins highlights that when individuals feel appreciated for who they are, productivity and company culture improve significantly. But I believe you’re called to far more than that. Gratitude for people as individuals, not just units of production, should come easily to Jesus Followers. That infuriating coworker is a Roman soldier making you carry his baggage for a mile. Appreciating him as a person made in the image of God is the extra mile Jesus tells us to go.
Mind you, that’s not a call to simple tolerance. We’re called to help people see themselves as God’s children. To point them to a transformational relationship with Jesus. In fact, Robbins vastly underestimates appreciation’s power which may just be the genesis of spiritual transformation.
In The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis describes daily engagement with coworkers through the lens of their eternal destiny. Let’s keep his vision in mind during our next chat with coworkers.
It is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
Jesus | Daily Resource
BecomeNew.me
Too busy for a long devotional time in the morning? Same here.
Jon Ortberg has come to the rescue with a 10-minute, Mon-Fri. podcast/video/email called BecomeNew.me. I can’t recommend it enough.
In recent weeks, he’s been leading listeners through a gratitude challenge. One episode hit me right between the eyes with this thought: Ingratitude is a repudiation of God’s grace. We proclaim that God’s grace is freely given and undeserved. But, when we don’t live in a posture of gratitude for everything in our life, we reject grace. Because if every aspect of life is a gift to be thankful for, then I’m not in control. Ouch.
Check out the most recent series the Gratitude Challenge. It’s fantastic any time of year. You can find it and the previous series on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube
The Kitchen Drawer | Christmas
She’ll Appreciate This Gift
Last edition I shared some fun gifts that dads might like to receive from their kids. This time I’ve got a resource that’s a win/win/win. You can get the women in your life great gifts. You can teach your kids (and perhaps remind yourself) that where and how we buy things matters. And you can change a woman’s life.
How? Buy some Christmas gifts from Thistle Farms in Nashville that kids will know Mom wants and needs. You can teach older kids about Thistle Farms’ mission: “Thistle Farms is a nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to helping women survivors recover and heal from prostitution, trafficking, and addiction. We do this by providing a safe place to live, a meaningful job, and a lifelong sisterhood of support.” You know that how you do business at your day job makes a difference. How you do business as a consumer also matters. Check out Thistle Farms and make a difference.
