The Art of Appreciation

Me: I realize that the reason I get to experience so many amazing moments is because I appreciate them.

She: Absolutely.  God appreciates appreciation.

Me: I don't understand how a person can see a rainbow or an amazing sunset and NOT notice it and go a little crazy.

She (quoting 'The Color Purple' as she is wont to do): "I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a a field and don't notice it."

This was part of a slightly meandering, yet, thorough conversation I had over dinner with a friend last evening.  I was telling my friend how I saw the most amazing rainbow i've ever seen yesterday.  And it truly was the most amazing rainbow I have ever seen.  Funny thing is, before yesterday, the most amazing rainbow i'd ever seen was in Aruba a little over a month ago.  It stretched from one side of the sea to the other and disappeared and reappeared as rain clouds formed and disappeared across the sky.  It was so full and every colour so distinct, I truly couldn't believe that it was real and that I was watching it form and dissolve and form and dissolve again in front of my eyes.  What was even more amazing was the fact that it's reflection hovered just above.  A double rainbow on this beautiful beach on the last day of my vacation in Aruba; and I seemed to be the only one who noticed it.  Well, I quickly made my way out of the water to grab a camera and try as best I could to capture what seemed to be a gift just for me. 

Well, that was Aruba.  But yesterday I saw my Aruba bow multiplied by, oh I don't know, 100.  Uhh, maybe a slight exaggeration, but it was amazing!  And because I was on a slightly winding highway, the rainbow was beside me, then behind me, then in front of me then behind me once again.  And at every turn it became brighter and the colours more piercing and more vibrant and just more amazing.  I'm sure that someone on the road thought I was drunk because i'm certain that I was swerving like Cruella DeVille going after her precious spotted puppies.  But I honestly couldn't contain myself.
To me a rainbow is one of the most amazing expressions of God's love for us.  Biblically, it was the sign of a promise made by God to Noah and his family.  A promise that the earth would never again be brought to complete and utter destruction by flood.  Other than that reminder, it really serves no purpose.  It is simply a phenomenon created by the sun and droplets of water.  And that fact that a sun ray and a mere droplet of water could be directed to form an arc of bright and vibrant colour that comes out of nowhere and leads to nowhere...well, that's an amazing act of love.  It's an amazing act because it's simply beauty and a promise.  And so, I appreciate a rainbow given to me on the first day of a new year because it reminds me that God remembers and brings his promises to pass.

But the act of appreciation is an interesting thing .  I think that whether or not we EVER learn to appreciate God and every expression of love that He shows, He will continue to express His love because He enjoys the beauty for Himself.  And if only one person ever acknowledges His effort, He takes pleasure in that one.
But people...well, people don't always appreciate.  It's often easy for people to dwell only on the negative aspects of a situation, oftentimes exaggerating what's not that serious, while completely ignoring the immense blessing that's right in front of them.
We show love or friendship to an individual only to have it thrown by the wayside, the magnitude of our efforts unappreciated, unrecognized, ignored.
And unlike God, when people's energies go unrecognized, they may not continue to put forth the effort to show the love and care.  Sometimes the pain or frustration of efforts unappreciated is too much to bear, and so, one decides to fall back rather than continue to put in effort unrecognized.

And so, at the dawn of a new year, when everyone is making resolutions and declaring what they will and will not do in the new year, I encourage the art of appreciation.  No matter what resolution you keep or discard, learn to recognize the blessing that's in front of you.  That job, that friend, that boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, your health, the stranger who smiled at you, the rainbow in the sky, the amazing sunset or sunrise, the lilacs blooming in the park.
The more you appreciate, the more there will be to appreciate.
In love,
Happy New Year!