Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages
1. recognize the full worth of.
2. understand (a situation) fully; grasp the full implications of.
Similar: value, cherish, respect, treasure, recognize, admire
Appreciation. I think you have heard this saying before: I appreciate you. If no one has said that to you, I will take time to say that I appreciate you.
Appreciation is about the time to we take to value something just as much as the value itself. For example, most people know this particular saying: Jesus died for our sins. One thing I have heard often, be it out of ignorance or the like, in response to that is: I didn't ask Him to die for me. That's the thing: it was never about you. Appreciation is the same. You see the value in the work, love, strength, patience, and all other elements that came before you to the person, place, or thing, and it is realized in that moment that you can say you appreciate it. That's when things become treasured, respected, and emblazoned in us.
You saw the tough looks, remembered the wiping of your bum and nose, heard her raise her voice, and felt her pray over your dreams. You don't forget who your mother is even when you are at ends. You appreciate her for existing, not just for what she does. If you limit her to that, you'll forget she's human too. She hurts too. She goes through too. Her emotions erupt to. So you value that she's came all this way to you.
You heard the stories; you didn't spend time on the ship, but you were in it; you weren't militant; your back didn't necessarily break building your father's house, nor did racist taunting enter your ears. You don't remember your grandfather only when a check in the mail arrives for you. You appreciate what he went through--how he became a man too. So you value that he came all this way to you.
To appreciate the food, my family and I say a prayer over it: to bless it as it blessed us. We remember its life before us and picture the hands its passed through. We pray that as it filled the Earth with its great goodness, that that may pass on to us too.
Sure Jesus died. And if you focus on the dying part so much, you forget that He still lives. If you focus so much on dying, you'll miss the Spirit and all the living we can now do.
All the Best,
CLG (Clarreese La'Nay Greene)
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