Eyes of Love and Appreciation

Eyes of Love and Appreciation

by Diana Scothorn

One day I was thinking about the day my husband and I were married. I’ll never forget how incredibly gorgeous he looked to me! I honestly had never seen him look more handsome. It was a divine connection! We met and were married in ninety days, so we had a simple church wedding, with only our children present. It was nothing elaborate, but I was intoxicated with love and excitement, as well as a deep appreciation for what God had given me!

I was so grateful, after being divorced and single for ten years, to have a God-fearing husband! God had blessed me with a man who loved and honored Him above everything else.

Therefore I knew He would…

…faithfully love and honor me as well as his commitment to our marriage vows! I recognized this man was a “gift” God had handpicked especially for me!

Appreciation causes you to be fully aware of what you have. If we’re not careful, our eyes can be deceived. We can slip away from a grateful heart of love and appreciation to a haughty spirit of entitlement!

Entitlement simply means you have a legitimate right to claim something. You have the right to have the benefit of what you receive! Although a marriage certificate entitles the couple to everything they possess, we shouldn’t take for granted the gifts that each partner brings to the marriage.

One partner may be a good communicator, one may be a good listener, the other may have more wisdom in investments, one may be better at giving compliments, but never the less we each have unique gifts. If we take for granted the gifts God has placed in our life, we begin to see things through dull eyes!

Dull eyes see life as uninteresting! They are eyes that are worn out. They are eyes that lack depth and perception of reality! They take the richness out of what God has done and is doing in our lives! They are eyes that find life boring and tedious!

Dull eyes see everything that is meant to be bright and vibrant as dark and gloomy! It’s easy to go from the joy of having a newborn to the mundane routine of changing poopy diapers, washing dirty dishes, and cleaning up messes all day! Or perhaps you started a new exercise program full of energy and excitement about losing your first 5 lbs. Still, now you feel it’s monotonous to go to the gym three days a week despite having the money to belong to a health club and the health to be able to work out!

When we take something for granted, we place something that once was of importance in a careless manner. It takes the value away from something that once held a high priority! When you discover something you’ve never had before, such as a loving relationship, a new church, a beautiful home, a job you aspired to have, it draws you in with eyes of appreciation!

The word says God causes the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened! ( Ephesians 1:18) When we see through a dull, worn lens, it causes us to take for granted the beauty of what we currently possess.

We all fall prey to not placing value on things of importance. We have to have our eyes continually open to see the things God has given us! I’ve made it a habit to look at my husband, home, and Ministry, with eyes of appreciation.

When I drive home every night, I make it a point to look at our house and admire it like the first time we laid our eyes on it! I remember being in awe of the thought we could own this beautiful home! After a long day of work, it would be easy to zip in the driveway and not focus on anything but getting into the house, out of my heels, and begin preparing for the next day!.

I look forward to driving up every night and just looking in awe of the gift God has given us! It’s refreshing after a long hard day to have a beautiful home to drive home to. We have to learn to appreciate the little things in our day!

From time to time, I make it a habit to look at my husband with the same exercise. I close my eyes and then re-open them as if it’s the first time seeing him. One day as I was purposing to close my eyes, when I opened them, before me I saw the man I married on our wedding night!

He was incredibly handsome, his eyes were gentle, his smile was warm, his personality was playful, and his physic was muscular and fit! Wow! That is my husband! He is my “gift” from God that I get to share my life with!

It’s amazing when we look through the eyes appreciation, our love and gratitude begins to grow! It causes us to value and highly esteem the gifts God has placed in our life!

When we see through the eyes of love and appreciation, we will have clarity and purpose! It’s incredible how, when we see the value in the gifts God has given us, it changes our perspective entirely!