“I believe that appreciation is a holy thing— that when we look for what’s best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does all the time. So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we’re participating in something sacred.”1
“…appreciation is… what God does all the time.”
I love this idea.
I love the image of God constantly contemplating what is best in each of us. God is not searching out our faults in order to make us better. God is seeing the best in us in order to love us – right now, in this moment. God does not appreciate the idea of what we could be if… God appreciates us, in the present, exactly as we are.
Let that sink in: God sees the best in each one of us, in the present, exactly as we are.
God loves us.
God loves us that we might learn to love. God appreciates us that we might learn to appreciate ourselves and others.
“…when we look for the best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we’re doing what God does all the time.”
When we appreciate a person, we are joining in the ongoing activity of God. And we can practice this throughout our day. We can do this with the other people in our households and people we encounter throughout the day. We can do this with ourselves. In fact, this would be fabulous practice because each of us is the person we spend the most amount of time with. I know this would give me good practice, as I am the person I tend to be most critical of. I can practice noticing and acknowledging the best in myself and then extend that appreciation to others.
I have this image of appreciation as a scattering of seeds. To scatter seeds onto the ground, rather than plant them in rows, is to recognize growth is not a process I can control. It invites patience, as the seed will grow (or not) in its own time. When I know the growth may have come from a seed I cast, I feel more connected. And even when I haven’t had a thing to do with scattering the seed, new growth can be a wonder to behold.
Appreciation grows, and the fruit of appreciation is sweet and nourishing. I suspect it even has medicinal properties.
May you allow the appreciation God has for you sink in. May you join in the holy activity of God in noticing and acknowledging the best in yourselves and in others. May you wonder and delight at new growth. May you savor and be healed by the sweet fruit of loving yourself well and being loved by others.
Amen.
Rachael
1 Fred Rogers, Commencement Address at Marquette University, May 2001