Appreciation

This little weekend getaway was a gift of appreciation from our church family. It is a wonderful feeling to feel appreciated. I think everyday we need to express it to someone because whether we recognize it or not people are constantly doing things for us.  It’s so easy to take things for granted and so many times we don’t realize how much something meant to us until it’s gone. I heard a minister say that it’s so much better to give roses to someone while they are alive instead of putting them on their casket.

When bad things happen to us we so badly wish we could change it or maybe have made a decision that would have brought different results.  It is our human nature to not want to suffer and make our lives as easy as possible.  However, this life is filled with unforeseen sorrow and heartache.  My husband always tells me to look at the cup half full not half empty.  It truly is one or the other! When we can learn to appreciate all of  our trials and know that our loving Heavenly Father is not unaware of our struggles but has given us what we need to overcome them, then real progress begins!

When I was a young mother, my 3 oldest daughters were 3,4 and 5 at the time I started having pain in my right ankle.  Of course I thought it would get better but of course the pain intensified as the weeks went on. I made a doctor appointment and he said there was nothing wrong. I was praying for direction and insisted he send me to a specialist.  It took several months for this to happen. By this time I was in great pain and fear.  I had had a bone tumor in this same ankle as a young child and now all these years later I was facing that fear again.  When I saw the specialist he looked at the Xrays I brought with me from the previous doctor and told me I had a hole in my bone.  A tumor was eating away at the bone.  I ended up having major surgery. I had to have a bone graft from my hip bone to my ankle.  Wow bone surgery is the worst kind of pain.  I could hardly wait for those morphine shots! After several days in the hospital I begged to go home.  The doctor made me master those crutches which I would use for the next 4 months! Four months is a really long time to use crutches but I learned to improvise.  I will never forget all those that helped me through that really rough time. My neighbor made me this apron with massive pockets so I could carry things from room to room while using those crutches. I had great appreciation for the doctors who made it possible for me to walk again, as well as all those who made my life bearable through that time!

Every single night I cook dinner, each family member thanks me, it always makes me feel appreciated. I have a scar on my head just inside my hairline, from my brain surgery that is visible on my forehead.  My daughter Anne asked me if it bothered me having a scar on my face.  I told her “no, just the opposite.  It reminds me every single day that God is a healer and He gave me another chance to live and it is with great appreciation I have this scar”.  I will be forever grateful to the brain surgeon who did just a masterpiece in hiding this huge scar in my hairline too! I could go on for many pages about appreciation, probably write an entire book of thanks! I just want to thank our church family for this gift and thank God for His gift of life and breath to each of us! With much appreciation.