I have noticed with interest over the years how many people often feel unappreciated. They feel like they are taken for granted and that what they do in a family or at work is expected.
The only time that their work is mentioned is when it wasn’t done or wasn’t done just right. Spouses (husband or wife), after years of marriage, sometimes take each other for granted as well. After being together for years, the newness of their marriage has long worn off. Many couples sadly let themselves get caught in the rut of letting life and the routine of it loll them into an apathetic state. The wife prepares the meals and does the washing etc. The husband takes care of the yard and the car, etc., and they pass each other, from time to time, like two ships silently passing in the night. A husband and wife should frequently recognize their spouse for the things they do to maintain their home and for each other’s contribution to their lives. Being appreciative is the key to a happy marriage.
While on the job, it seems that some employees are only appreciated as part of the group but never as an individual worker while having made a significant contribution to the company.
Most everyone has issues with some part or parts of themselves that they just wish were different, but the verses below express what a person with a healthy self concept ought to feel and want to express about themselves and the various parts of themselves.
“Thank you body, for allowing me to experience every day completely. Thank you eyes for the opportunity to see the beauty and majesty of the world around me. Thank you nose for the pleasure of smelling delicious food and the familiar smell of my husband. Thank you lips for tender moments kissing the soft, doughy skin of my newborn daughter. Thank you mouth for allowing me to transform my thoughts and feelings into words I can share with others through conversation, laughter, and song. Thank you brain…for everything, for the memories you encode, for the emotions you allow me to feel, for the deep thoughts you allow me to generate, for the information you allow me to store and analyze, for allowing me to integrate my experiences into a cohesive sense of self. Thank you lungs for allowing me to breathe in the richness of life—the bitter cold in the winter air, the spring breezes, the moistness in summer showers, and the crispness of fall afternoons. Thank you heart for your hard work through all of life’s adventures—pumping ceaselessly, loving and sustaining me every second of every day. Thank you stomach for transforming the food I ingest into needed energy. Thank you womb for blessing me with a beautiful daughter and making me a mother.
Thank you breasts for nourishing my daughter through her first year of life. Thank you arms for allowing me to hold close those I love. Thank you fingers for allowing me to create, experience, and caress. Thank you legs and feet for carrying me to the tops of beautiful mountains. Thank you body for your diligence, loyalty, and love. You allow me to live and love completely. I am blessed to have you and look forward to our lifetime together. Would that we could all feel that kind of appreciation for ourselves as well as for others.” —Anna Packard
The Law of the Harvest is expressed below in these two verses:
“And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.” (D&C 78:19) “Gratitude (appreciation) is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” —Zig Ziglar. There are people who even express gratitude for what didn’t happen to them. For example, this person was referred to as a fool, but if he was a fool for what he did. I, too, wish to be a fool. “Having lost his donkey, a fool got down on his knees and began thanking God. A stranger passing by saw him and asked, “Your donkey is missing. Why are you thanking God?” The fool replied, “I’m thanking Him for seeing to it that I wasn’t riding him at the time. Otherwise, I would be missing as well.” Sometimes the way we express our gratitude may even be a little strange. The story is told about a travelling salesman driving through a rural area in a Southern State, and as he drove by a relatively run-down farm, he noticed a pig walking around with a wooden leg. He drove on and thought how unusual that was, and he decided to turn around and go back and ask the farmer about his pig with a wooden leg. He found the farmer out in the field a little ways and said to him, “Tell me about your pig with a wooden leg.” The farmer told him that that pig was very special. Once he saved my little girl who fell in the swamp. Another time he saved my little boy from a wild boar who charged at him from those woods over yonder. “We love that pig; he is like family.”
“Well, tell me how he lost his leg?” The farmer came back with; “Well, You can’t hardly eat a whole pig at one time.” May we be blessed to have an awareness of and an appreciation for everyone around us and the contribution that they make to our lives and our happiness. The more aware we become and personally recognize those who contribute to our lives and happiness, the more likely they will continue to bless us and even add to and pile high those blessings. An expression of appreciation is also an expression of love and admiration, a compliment of the highest form, unlike the kind the pig received.