We Don’t Always Appreciate The Gifts God Gives

We don’t always appreciate the gifts God gives.

Our daughter, Christie, was about to turn three when we brought her brother, Paul, home from the hospital. She did not appreciate the change in our family dynamics. Two weeks later she tried to give him away. To a stranger.

To put it mildly, their growing up years involved a lot of conflict. They didn’t fight constantly. There were plenty of moments filled with lots of laughter. But sibling rivalry definitely permeated our home. On road trips they each claimed their half of the car’s back seat. Chaos erupted if either of them allowed a finger, or a toe, or any of their possessions to spill over the invisible line between them. My husband threatened to find a soundproof car-top carrier to transport them.

I remember telling them, “Someday you are going to grow up and like each other.” At the time, I wasn’t sure I believed it, but nevertheless, I kept telling them.

Now that they are adults, with children of their own, I can happily report they are good friends. They do like each other and are actually quite close. With the challenges they experienced growing up, they learned patience. They matured. It took a long time, but they learned to appreciate each other.

I can’t help wondering if God looks down on His children with similar thoughts to what I felt when my children had trouble getting along with each other. It must grieve the Lord to see the tensions that exist between His children. Personality conflicts arise because someone is annoyingly verbose, or someone else tends to judge everyone. Emotions may boil because someone just has a different idea about how something should be done. Could God think, “Someday you will grow up and like each other?”

God made each person unique. In His sovereignty, God has placed each of us where we are to fulfill His purposes. The people that surround us have different strengths. We all have our weaknesses. The people we find abrasive may be in our lives so that God can use them to polish off our own rough edges. We don’t always appreciate the gifts God gives us.

God’s purpose for each of us is to make us become more like Christ. As we mature in Him, we are to throw off our old nature. God teaches us to get rid of things like rage, bitterness, selfishness, and impatience. He wants us to put on a new nature, controlled by His Spirit, letting Him renew our thoughts and attitudes.

We will spend eternity in heaven with other believers. The same believers we encounter now will be part of our forever lives. Relationships in heaven will be loving and harmonious. We will appreciate each other’s differences instead of criticizing them. What if we learned to appreciate each other now?

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Galatians 5:22-23

We don’t always appreciate the gifts God gives us. How are you learning to appreciate the people God has placed around you? Please leave a comment below.

Blessings,
Phyllis

© 2026 Phyllis L. Farringer

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