"I never thought I'd be THAT person!"

Have you ever thought that to yourself? I just thought that today, because I've become that person who sends feedback -- positive or negative -- to organizations. I just did it last week.

And here's why I do it: I work somewhere that thrives on feedback from those people. It takes a certain personality to interact with an organization, especially when they don't see any faces behind the corporate name. But when we get a note from somebody -- even a brief 2 sentence note -- that says, "This made my day!" or "This was good food for thought" or "This changed my life," that makes our day! I think it's following in the footsteps of the Psalms -- celebrating what God has done and proclaiming it aloud to the nations (or anybody within earshot; see, for example, Psalm 105).

Being on the receiving end of this feedback makes me want to be on the "sending" end. So I sent a note to an organization last week and received a reply this morning that, for a number of reasons, the timing of my note was perfect and it was a great encouragement. (By the way, I also applied the devotional message we heard on the National Day of Prayer and prayed for this person on the spot -- if they needed encouragement, I think they probably also needed prayer!)

It took me about 30 seconds to send this email; I'm trusting that, in God's economy, the "payoff" of this "investment" will be multiplied.

Doesn't this make you want to send a note of encouragement today?