Look Again
by Diana Scothorn
I have found it is easy to take for granted the blessings of God if we don’t purpose to recognize the gifts we possess. When we take something for granted, it means we carelessly treat something. It takes the value away from the original worth.
When you find something you’ve never had before, like a loving relationship, a beautiful home, or a job you have aspired to get, it draws you in with eyes of appreciation. You desire it. It’s appealing. You long to have it.
However, what we do after God gives us our desires, is…
…more important. If not careful, our once longing desire, is now, nothing more than a possession we have acquired.
I recently saw my husband walk by and thought how blessed I was to have a God-fearing husband. I closed my eyes and looked again, and standing in front of me; I saw the same man I saw the first time I met him. It was a new awareness of the goodness of God and His provision.
He was incredibly handsome, his eyes were gentle, his personality was playful, and his physic was muscular. Wow! This is my husband! He’s the “gift” God has given me to wake up to every morning.
That same day, when I drove home, I purposed to look at the home God gave us through “new” eyes” of appreciation. Again, I was in awe of the grandness of the structure and the memory of when we closed on our new home, and how excited I was the first night we slept in our new bedroom together.
When we awake with “eyes of appreciation,” they are eyes that see with a new awareness of the goodness of God. When we look through the worn-out lens of our eyes taking for granted what we’ve been given, we discount God’s goodness.
It’s easy to slip into a habit of breezing through life, pursuing the “next thing” instead of seeing the blessings of God standing in front of us.
Appreciation causes us to be fully aware of what God has already graciously provided. If we’re not careful, our eyes can be deceived and go from APPRECIATION to ENTITLEMENT. When we take for granted the blessings God has placed in our lives, we begin to see things through dull eyes.
Dull eyes see life as uninteresting. They see through worn-out lenses. They lack depth and perception of reality. They’re eyes that take for granted the richness of what God “has done” and Is doing.
They’re eyes finding life tedious. Dull lenses see everything meant to be bright and vibrant as dark and gloomy. I’ve learned to step back from time to time and LOOK AGAIN!
It’s amazing how getting out of the habit of seeing through eyes of entitlement and stepping in to LOOK AGAIN through the eyes of appreciation changes our whole perspective.
When I see I’m in a rut and feel like everything is a boring routine, I close my eyes, open them back up and LOOK AGAIN. It’s then I see things that have felt routine and mundane today are the exact things “yesterday” that made me happy.
What in your life needs a second look today?
~Diana
Diana Scothorn published author of “Daily Dose with Diana“, has a heart for helping women succeed, with a focus on a strong, spiritual, mental, and physical core. Diana’s background in the health and fitness world began with one of the most iconic names in fitness, Richard Simons. Overseeing ladies’ health clubs for 10-plus years allowed Diana to step into a passion for marketplace ministry even before ministering the gospel in business was widely accepted.
She’s been married to her prince charming, Stewart, going on 12 years, and they enjoy spending time with their 4 kids and 8 grandchildren. Both are ordained ministers of the Gospel, serve on the board of several well-known ministries, and are also co-owners of, The Benefit Link, Inc., a marketplace ministry business, which has been number one in the field for over 25 years and is licensed in all 50 States, serving senior citizens in need of compassion, prayer, and guidance when facing the challenges of the Medicare maze.
Diana’s been featured in Society Magazine’s Successful Business Women of the Year for 2018, 2019, and 2020. As an international speaker, Diana has traveled abroad for over 10 years, along with her husband, to help support missions throughout Europe and South America, focusing on funding the Kingdom and advancing the gospel.
Connect with Diana on Instagram and Facebook, where she has “Diana’s Daily Devotionals” encouraging and inspiring women to live daily in victory.
