Appreciate What You Have and It Will Appreciate
Appreciate what you have and it will appreciate. I heard these words spoken many years ago, and they still ring true. The things we tend to and focus most on in life will grow. Usually to the point of causing us to want to focus on them even more.
All too often, we tend to believe the grass is greener somewhere else. This spouse isn’t working out, so let me go get another. Or, my house isn’t good enough, I should move. Or, this job sucks, I think I’ll quit and find something else.
The problem with this thinking is that the replacement you choose is often similar to what you already have. It’s like a farmer who abandons his farm for one down the street, only to find the crops are growing the same there too. He doesn’t appreciate what he has, and doesn’t work the land as a result. Nor does he work and tend the land at the new farm, and so it doesn’t grow either.
If you learned to farm better, to appreciate what you already have, it will in time grow and become what you want and need. Appreciate your spouse for who they are, and they will become the spouse you need. Appreciate your job, giving it your dedicated attention, and it will eventually provide the best income it can. If you focus more on making your house a home, investing in it, it will grow in value.
Every year, my wife and I fertilize our lawn and spread lots of new seed on it. We water it every day. The first year, it looked okay. In subsequent years, hardly a neighbor walks by without asking how we get our lawn and gardens looking so nice. We have talked about getting another home, but as long as we own this one, we will take care of it to the best of our ability. Clearly it has appreciated.
No matter what you have, appreciate it, care for it, and tend to it. When things get tough, appreciate what little you have, and be thankful for those things. They are the seeds to your future well being!
One Response to “Appreciate What You Have and It Will Appreciate”
[…] To those suffering, look again at the Philippians passage. It states, “….with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”. All to often, we focus on what we don’t have, instead of on what we already have. Thanksgiving allows us to appreciate and acknowledge what we do have! Most requests we make to God through prayer are not needs, but rather desires. The more desires you have, the more suffering you will endure. This concept is very Buddhist-like, but it is a truth. When you give thanks for what you have been given in life, your focus shifts from desire to appreciation, and a certain calming peace can be felt. You will also focus more on the right things. Appreciate What You Have and It Will Appreciate. […]