Appreciated Value

Your life on this earth is so incredibly rare and valuable.

There never was and will never be another exactly like you on this earth.

You are highly valued and extremely precious.

Think of all the wisdom you have learned from a life well lived.

Think of all the good times and lessons learned in the hard times.

Look at all the things you accomplished already!

And as valuable as you are right now, as each day passes, you will only appreciate in value.

Hard to accept, I know.

Think about how we treat our most valuable stuff. We insure our expensive stuff, treat the good stuff with the utmost care, display the fancy stuff, and keep all that stuff clean and pristine.

But what about the stuff we are made of?

We take most of it for granted and only focus on what's wrong or missing.

We compare ourselves to others and listen to the lies that somehow we are not enough.

We inspect our lives, look for cracks and problems, and shake our heads at God's faulty work.

We wish we were skinnier, prettier, younger, firmer, smarter, or richer.

We don't take good care of ourselves and protect the treasures that we are.

We shrink back and morph into other's expectations instead of bravely displaying all the beauty within us.

We discard our value, long to be different, and compare ourselves to everyone else.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's like we are spitting in God's face, discounting the value of the treasured creation that He made - US.

Yikes.

How can we do that knowing how much God loves us?

How can we treat ourselves with such disdain, knowing that Jesus sacrificed everything so we could be saved?

We should consider our lives the most valuable and precious things ever made.

Because we are what God made and should therefore appreciate our value!

We are valuable and priceless and should treat ourselves with better care than we give to our treasured trinkets.

You, my precious friend, are so rare, valuable, and beautiful that you should display your magnificent self with pride and joy, exclaiming, "Look at what God made!"

Let’s not take one more moment of this valuable life for granted.

Thank You, God, for this beautiful life you have given us.

Ecclesiastes 5: 18-20

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink, and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.  They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

1 Corinthians 3: 16-17

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.