Two Magic words. "Thank You"! Already these two have gotten your interest. You may have opened this blog article simply because you saw Thank You in the title line. Many of us are ministers whose lives are spent giving to others and we hear them so seldom don't we.

I call these two words (Thank You) Magical words only because of what they can do for a person. Not only do they offer so much for the person who hears them, but also for the person who offers them in sincerity. Last year my wife and I picked a few families in our area who we decided to bless at Christmas time. Of those families there were two single moms with children who we felt were struggling to make it. We knew that Christmas was going to be a hard time for both of them so we decided to give them a cash gift that would help them to buy Christmas gifts for their children.

The first mother had two boys. She barely seemed to recognize that we had sacrificed in order to make this gift to her family. She never did say "Thank You." She almost acted like it was expected of us. Like it was our duty to do something for her. By the end of the year, this person had caused us huge problems in our church,

The second mother (Sharon) had a little girl. When we gave our gift to that young mother, she hugged us and thanked us with tears in her eyes. She let us know that this was a miracle as she had nothing in which to purchase gifts for her daughter.

Her appreciation of us made us want to do more for her. Not long later, when she was able to get a house to rent, my wife and went in and helped her clean it up. We painted the whole place. And when the little girl said she wanted a "pink" room, I went out and purchased pink paint especially for "her" room. I cannot tell you how it made us feel to have a person truly appreciate what we did for them. Even today, if Sharon called my wife with a need, I have no question what Natalie would do. She would go out and buy what ever the need was or do what ever needed done for this appreciative single mom.

And here is the magic for the Sharon's of the world. When they truly appreciate the kindness of others, it causes us to want to do more for them the next time.

So who is blessed when "Thank You" is expressed? The giver and the receiver. Now mind you, I said Thank You is expressed not "said". There is a difference in the two. I have people all the time who say "Thank You". Most of the time, they don't mean it. It is just what is expected at the moment. Kind of like when a person says "Hello, how are you today?" The person replies, "fine or good". However they may really have incredible problems, but are unwilling to share them. We really don't want to know how they are doing. If you do, you'd better pull up a chair, you might be there for a while. I once said "How are you doing?" to my mother in law. She went on and on for about 5 minutes until I finally stopped her. She told me about every ache and pain in her body and then some. I don't ask mom how she's doing any more. People say "Thank You" with the same uncaring unthankful spirit. They say it like they are saying "good morning". It's just polite, so they say it. But do they really mean it? Probably not.

I have been in ministry for many years now. To be a minister is to be a servant. I love to help people. I love to watch them grow as I encourage and work with them. However, I have found that the number of people who "Truly" appreciate your ministry are grossly outnumbered by the ones who as Jesus put it "trample your pearls and then turn and rend you. I wish that could be reversed. Why even He only had one man and a few ladies at the foot of the Cross. This after healing thousands of people of incurable diseases.

Have you ever met a truly unthankful person? You will generally find that they have many problems in their life. Many of which are directly related to their gratitude towards others. The scripture declares to us that the end time would be a time where people were Unthankful. I believe that this present generation could be characterized as Unthankful. My suggestion to you is beware of unthankful people!

What a shame. It is really sad. If people only understood what being thankful could do for them. If they only realized how much it does for those who try to help them.

Well I'm Thankful this morning. I woke up with this on my heart and had to get up and write it down. I thank God for all he has done in my life. I'm Thankful for the men in ministry who have encouraged me. I'm Thankful for my wife and children. I'm thankful for my health. I'm Thankful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost which has been my salvation. I'm Thankful for the friends the Lord has given me. I'M THANKFUL!

Be a blessing to someone today. Bless them by helping if you see a need and also by Thanking them if they bless you!

About Pastor James Smith

Pastor James Smith, Valparaiso, Indiana – Founder of PreachIt.org, OpportunityHope.org, and PastoralHelps.com.

He equips pastors worldwide with sermons, leadership tools, and encouragement, while also caring for orphaned and at-risk children in West Bengal, India through OpportunityHope. Beyond the orphanage and school, OpportunityHope provides clean water wells, livestock, and other humanitarian helps to families and villages in need. Additional books, leadership training, and mentoring resources are available through PastoralHelps.com.