Look Again
We took a few days last week to visit the Shenandoah Mountains with my wife’s parents. How beautiful the mountains were!
We live in Middle Tennessee, and just a few hours east of us are the Smoky Mountains. I’ve visited and vacationed there many times. Those mountains are beautiful too. It’s one of my favorite places to go to chill out and relax.
Walking every morning with the mountains in the backdrop, and driving along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah, stopping at the overlooks and visitor centers, was breathtaking. Especially this time of year! We timed our trip perfectly, with the leaves changing all around us.
And It got me thinking.
When we live near something beautiful and see it all the time, we can get used to it. When the mountains are simply part of the background on your daily walk or your commute to work everyday you don’t always stop to appreciate them.
You start taking them for granted.
The same thing happens with the people who help us look good at work.
Last year my processor, who had been my right-hand person for almost five years, left the company. I had to find someone new. The transition was bumpy to say the least! The people in between didn’t always get things done the way they needed to be done, and it made my job much harder.
Today, I have a great processor again. He’s doing a terrific job, but he’s not the same person I had before. And it made me realize how much I appreciated what I had even more.
Think about the people we work with every day. The ones who do things without being asked. The ones who anticipate problems, take care of details, help our customers, and make our job easier.
When was the last time we genuinely thanked them?
A Real Christian Businessman understands that it’s easy to take the credit for success while overlooking the people standing right beside us who helped make it happen.
I know because I do it myself.
“Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good…” Heb 13:16a (MSG)
This week let’s look around and see things differently. Act like we are seeing the Shenandoah or Smoky Mountains for the first time in a long time. Stop and appreciate the beauty that’s been right in front of us all along. Then do the same with the people around you.
Don’t wait until someone is gone to realize how much they meant to you.
People need to hear compliments and words of appreciation far more often than criticism.
Especially today.