Appreciating.

How big were manners in your house growing up? Were there “pleases” & “thank yous” or was it something you had a roommate, spouse, or friend’s family have to teach you? In our family we’ve had a bit of both in our background—having these kinds of words already as habits, and having to build them into habits.

It's fascinating to do this with children. We literally set them up as “magic words”—it won’t happen unless we hear the words to make it happen—please to get it, thank you after it. I can actually hear my wife in a sing-songy mom voice saying, “What do we SAAAYYYY….” To one of my kids when they were little after receiving something from someone.

But it’s more than words, isn’t it? The words don’t just kind of MAKE appreciation happen.
The truth is, appreciation is the true foundation of gratitude and, to many, happiness.

I was reminded of that again on a recent trip to the Fiji islands where our church has the
pleasure of helping to equip, encourage and support a half dozen churches and a couple dozen pastors there. During a meal time—a celebratory event, because my pastor friend, Dan and I have traveled very far to be there and the local church families and pastors are very appreciative and excited that we are there—I felt myself being watched. I heard some excited banter in Fijian from those I had noticed watching me. (Fijians understand and speak English, but Fijian is their comfortable language with one another.) I made contact with one of the ladies as they spoke, and she could tell she was “caught”.

I asked what they were talking about and she gave a good, deep, full belly laugh. She
proceeded to tell me that they loved to watch me eat. She said that they could tell I really
enjoyed mealtime. They asked me what it was about Fijian food that I loved it so much.

I told her that I really did enjoy Fijian food—much of it is roasted over an outside fire, seafood heavy and fresh fruit and vegetables. I mean, what’s NOT to like, right?

But…I realized that to me this moment was far, far more than that. I allow myself to appreciate and enjoy life in these moments--I have embraced appreciation. To truly allow myself to appreciate a good meal; To acknowledge and enjoy a cool breeze on a hot day, or the sun heating up my back on a cool day, are moments I had to start intentionally acknowledging and trying to really take a moment to enjoy.

I’ve found the more I can appreciate, the happier I tend to be, and the more positive I tend to be for those around me. This seems like a pretty good strategy to make for better lives.

I’m pretty sure that it was this appreciative, grateful mindset that the Apostle Paul was
channeling when he was led by the Holy Spirit to write these words:

The secret to living in every situation is to be content. To be more than content, so it would seem, is to be appreciative. To be appreciative, is to be positive, thankful and to make the atmosphere around us a little bit BETTER with our attitudes.

This will become more and more challenging the longer some of us allow ourselves to be
disappointed, pile up unmet expectations, or have things “get worse” and nudge us toward
longing more and more for the “good ol’ days”.

It’s not helpful.
Not to you, and not to anyone around you.

What is helpful? Allowing yourself the moments to appreciate, be thankful, and sit in that
moment a little longer so it affects your attitude and perspective.
Let it happen more often.
Make it a habit.
What happens if you do?

Check out what the Apostle Paul writes through the Holy Spirit after he shares with us his
secret:

You got this. There’s a lot you can take in, roll with, handle and hang with—it just helps A LOT if you give your attitude the recovery time to acknowledge, enjoy and appreciate the little things that come along the way. They add up.

Here’s to appreciating the Lord, each other and the little things a bit more.

@colbyengstrum