An Encouraging Word

This evening I realized that I just felt really good! My day started off well and I just felt better and better until that, by the time we got to worship this evening, I was almost skipping. I just felt that good! I was thinking about it and here's my opinion of why I felt that good. Today at work my boss told me, over the course of my few hours, several times in different ways that she thought I was doing a really good job. I don't think she was manipulating me in any way. She was just telling me what she thought and that she appreciated the job I was doing. Hearing that and being affirmed in that way just made my day. Literally.
It's kind of got me thinking that I should do that for people more often. A little praise or appreciation goes a long way. We hear so often that it takes so many compliments to make up for one insult or criticsm. That's intended to make us think before we say something hurtful but I think sometimes it makes me feel that complimenting someone doesn't really mean anything. And so there's no point.
But I realized after today that I need to make an effort to let people know that I appreciate them more often. If I can pass along the way I felt today from just a little bit of affirmation, I think it would definately be worthwhile. And it can't hurt any to let my friends know how important to me they really are either.