Appreciate What You Have...

 

Our “across the street” neighbor lady likes to use sidewalk chalk to write messages on her drive.  Last week, she posted one that hit especially close to home for me.  The message?  “Appreciate what you have before it turns into what you had.”  In all probability, she got that quote from somewhere…where, I don’t know.  Nevertheless, it’s a great line and deserves to be explored.

 You may think you don’t have very much, or at the least it wouldn’t be a big deal if what little you may have became something you had.  If you’re thinking like that, you need to dig deeper.  “Appreciate what you have.”  Don’t think about only material things.  Think about the “other” things…friends, family, relationships, health, job, spouse…those things we often take for granted in life.  Think about those things and appreciate them, protect them, guard them because these things and these people are more precious than any material thing could ever be.

 And these things can easily be things you once had rather than currently have.  You can easily push friends away from you by inappropriate words or actions.  You can ruin family relationships and your relationship with others in the same ways.  You can throw away your health through unhealthy habits and actions.  You can lose your job and lose your spouse just by uttering words that should never be uttered or engaging in just one act of infidelity or disloyalty.

 Gaining the trust of friends and developing a love for others in deeper relationships are not easy or flippant processs.  Sometimes it takes years to more fully develop the kind of friendships and relationships that we all crave.  However, just a few misplaced and ill-timed spoken or written words can shatter that trust and faith, resulting in broken relationships and the prospect of having to rebuild…sometimes with great cost and difficulty…that trust and faith again.

 And just one act of infidelity, a one-night fling, can destroy or at least forever change the otherwise great relationship you have with your spouse or significant other.  It is so easy to slip into compromising situations…many times without even knowing what is happening until it’s almost too late.

 I can’t begin to tell you how often I’ve had to rebuild relationships or seek new ones over the years.  I also can’t begin to tell you how many times my friends, relatives, and my wife have overlooked and forgiven things I’ve said or done that might otherwise have resulted in a break in trust and faith in me.  It greatly saddens me to know that I have put these my friends, relatives, and yes, my wife through that pain.  Knowing this gives me an even greater resolve to think before I speak, consider before I act, and slow down before I rush headlong.

 Just changing two letters in a small word…turning “have” into “had”…means a life change…a forever difference…a future that will never be what had been.  Please stop and think before stepping off of the pier into the ocean.  Please take the time to weigh the consequences of your words and actions.  Consider who you hold dear before you flippantly or selfishly toss them aside in favor of something or someone you shouldn’t be involved with in the first place.

 Appreciate what you have before it turns into what you had.”  Blessings.