You have a very important decision to make today! Will you spend your energy planting seeds in the physical or in the spiritual? The Bible says in Galatians 6:8 “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
This is our two options: We can sow to the flesh or to the spirit, they both bring forth a harvest. The real question is what kind of harvest do you want? Think about it as you do your work and living today and make some good choices. Let’s look forward to a good harvest of the abundant and everlasting stuff of God!
Someone said: “You can’t see clearly until you appreciate fully.” I hate to admit it, but for a small part of my life, I got distracted by people’s flaws and was unable to see and appreciate their potential. If we focus on people’s flaws and miss their potential, then eventually the relationship/friendship will break down.
I am not perfect. In fact, the older I get, the more I realize how just how many mistakes I have made and am still making. Hopefully, I am at least beginning to learn from some of them. None of us are flawless, but all of us have accomplishments and potential. Many times our accomplishments and potential go unnoticed, because most of the people in our world are looking for what is wrong, instead of what is right.
When I was growing up, I used to hear the older folks talking a lot about appreciation. I think appreciation may be one of the great lost art forms of our time. To appreciate means that we make an intentional effort to look past and beyond the flaws, mistakes and mess-ups and instead focus in on a person’s value. Every person in this life has value and contribution that makes life better.
Appreciation isn’t so much about saying “thank you”, as it is actually taking the time to recognize and understand the other person’s value and contribution that they can make.
I need to get better at appreciation. In fact, I want to pull out this old art form from the past and put it into practice, but I can’t do it by myself. I need your help. If enough of us get it and practice it, then it will become a part of our nature.
Here are a few things that I am trying to do to practice appreciation for others:
1.) Accept people as they are! I don’t have to agree with everything and I don’t have to like everything about a person to find something of value to appreciate in them. Sure I want to see people grow, improve and live up to their potential, but I am learning that before I can help anyone do anything, I first have to accept. appreciate and love them.
2.) Be willing to learn new things! I am a human being, but I don’t know all there is about human beings and what it means to live and succeed as one. Since I have room in my life to grow, then I need to be open to differences of opinion, realizing that while, I don’t have to agree, that I also don’t have to let it tear apart what could be a meaningful relationship of relationships. Sometimes we burn our bridges with no idea of who else could walk across them.
3.) Consider The Quickies: There are a few things that I need to do and keep doing to really appreciate others. I need to PAY ATTENTION. I am sometime so focused on myself that I miss everything else around me – must continually work on this one! I need to ASK MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS. Questions help me to get below the surface, so that I can know more. The more I know about you, the more opportunity, I have to find something to appreciate. I need to REALLY CARE. I care. I have always cared, but I am learning that I can care more deeply and more real. I am also discovering that I want to.
Appreciation is a choice. We want others to make the choice to appreciate us, but maybe we need to make the choice first, and then take whatever might come our way. Just a little something we all need to think about. Here’s a question for you: Who do you or who can you appreciate today? Take the time to appreciate them and you will be glad you did!
A few months ago, I started a series of messages on Friendship! We focused on friendship with God and friendship with others! I love and appreciate all of my friends, but realize that I have not and I do not always show this in the way that I should. It’s not that I don’t care or that I am not interested. It’s just that, if I am your friend, then I am your friend and nothing is going to change that on my part. (This is how I think in my head and heart and feel that if you know me, then you should know this about me!) What I am learning is that while I may have an expectation that my friends accept and believe that, some of my friends need continuing reassurance. (They may know it, but not believe it or understand it!)
When I first began to realize this need that some of my friends had, my first thought was that they are not much of a friend if they don’t know me and believe me as I am. (I have other friends that get it and it’s not a problem for them!) And then I slowly began to realize that everybody has their on perception. I should be able to expect that they would work to give me the benefit of the doubt, but if they don’t or won’t, then I still have the responsibility and obligation as a friend to try to help my friend see, know and experience the real me. Some would say: “They are not really your friend, if they have that attitude!” But the issue is not their being my friend. The issue is my being their friend. I am not responsible for their actions or reactions! I am responsible for my own. And even when people who say they are friends are not friendly, I have a responsibility and obligation to continue to be friendly, because that’s what friends do! (Many times all of us think we are being or doing, but we are fooling ourselves and that is why someone in the friendship has to be willing to go the extra mile or the friendship will die!)
God is our friend and we don’t always treat God the way that He should be treated, but He patiently gives us time, space, knowledge and wisdom to figure it out! He does this because He is our friend and wants us to be a friend back! So, before you write somebody off, make sure that you are doing your part as a friend. It’s a blessing for you, them and everybody. And the best part is that it brings glory to God when we get this right! And it is really cool, when you get to travel that extra mile together!
Thank you for being my friend and for reading this blog! I hope it challenges, encourages and blesses you!
Michael Joe Harvell 