Appreciation

It seems that true appreciation is a learning experience. Not merely that one must learn how to appreciate a particular thing, although I believe that too is true, but that appreciation itself is somewhat comprised of learning.

I find for instance that I appreciate things the most the more aspects by which I encounter them. My family for example, means more to me each day as I see them in different lights and see yet more methods of God’s craftsmanship at work in them. Marriage likewise seems to produce greater love and appreciation (or so I am told) the more life experience it has endured. When looking at a piece of art or listening to a piece of music, I find that there isn’t some fixed appreciation that stands the test of time as the sole beauty that lies within it. My appreciation for it changes as I myself change and learn to value other things that I had formerly never known it possessed.

It is no wonder, then, that there is such a narrow minded appreciation of beauty these days when there is such an abominable lack of learning. There is an enormous generation gap based on our inability to appreciate another’s preferences I think primarily because each generation forgets more and more how to learn.

Why is it that we generalize different sects of what particular type of music we like? And even more astonishing to me is how, when asked, many people would only ascribe to one genre of musical preference. Where is the variety? Why can’t we all appreciate, even if it is not with favoritism, at least the common attributes of beauty that can be found amongst the diversity?

It seems that when beauty became preference, we began to see preference as the only beauty. How then can I appreciate that which I don’t prefer?

I long for the learning that wakes up each day as though there were a new world to be looked at. The world is different today because I am different today and because, now that I have seen life in one particular light, perhaps I am equipped to see it in another. How can I expect a greater appreciation of life until I am willing to release the tight grip that I have on my own vision and preference?

I actually find the same to be true when dealing with the appreciation of the Gospel. How can I appreciate the truth of the Gospel or bask in the multi-faceted reality of God when I have a box of my preference in which my “god” must abide? He does not exist for my good pleasure, but quite the reverse. If I could but let go of valuing only what interests my immediate preferences, perhaps I would find that there is more beauty in the Gospel than my box could ever accommodate.