I don’t do traditional New Year’s resolutions. Our family has a special box we open each Christmas called the Happy Birthday Jesus box. We all think of what we can give to the Lord for the upcoming year. Then we write it on an index card and put it in a sealed envelope with our name on the front, placing it in the box. Nobody sees what anyone else wrote (except the kids who are getting help from their parents). It might be to work on a weakness or develop in an area of the spiritual disciplines.
The following year we take out last year’s card and consider whether we actually followed through on our “gift” to the Lord. But if you think about it, it’s really a gift to ourselves. After all, Galatians 6:7 says that we reap what we sow. If I follow through on growing spiritually, I am the one who reaps the benefit!
I spent New Year’s Day pensively thinking about what my goals were for the upcoming year. I felt compelled to have the goal of wanting people to know the value they have in my life and to the Lord. I want them to know how much I appreciate things I see in them that they might not know that I even notice. If you think about the word appreciate, it’s a verb that has more than one meaning. As I APPRECIATE (recognize the value) of people, I also want them to know that they have value to God, and that their value comes from God. APPRECIATE also means to rise in value or price. Doesn’t knowing Jesus make them feel their value rise because they understand their value to a fuller extent?
That is my goal for this year— letting people know how valuable they are. It’s not actually the one I wrote on my card. That one was to work less and play more. But this new one I thought of today connects with that one. Spending time with people to show appreciation means I have to make time to play and sometimes say no to other things that are also good.
Whom do you need to appreciate this year? Your spouse? Your kids? Your pastor? Maybe it’s the man at your church who shakes hands to greet people, but you don’t even know his name. Why don’t you thank him for faithfully demonstrating God’s love? Who works behind the scenes but never seeks recognition? Thank them!
Even though I want to be more cognizant of showing verbal appreciation, I thought it would also be fun to write notes to some people, too. Who doesn’t love getting a card in the mail from a friend? I wrote my first card today and hope to send a few out each month. Sure, I could text them, but there is something more special about an old-fashioned hand-written card!
Lord, I want to appreciate You above all else!
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things,” (Psalm 107:8,9).
Yes. He has satisfied my thirst and filled my hungry soul with Himself. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever,” (Psalm 136:1).
