if you take care of something

Things are coming along nicely at our little urban cottage farm.We have some herbs, the squash look like they might just fruit, the tomatoes are a little trickier because the birds REALLY love them (I am thinking we need a scarecrow?) The chicks seem happy, producing lots of eggs, and the windmill keeps turning, day after day.
Lately I have been overcome with a sense of gratefulness and peace regarding our little plot in the city. Seeing it flourish with all sorts of vegetation and life just makes my heart happy. 
Recently we have been working really hard to teach our kids that if you value something then you should work that much harder to take care of it.Lately, as I have been enjoying the fruits of all our hard work to be good stewards of what we have and as we settle in here where we are (instead of always wanting to be somewhere else,)  I am beginning to think that the opposite is also true.
If you really take care of something then you will come to value it.
Sometimes we want to fall in love with an idea/place/person/job  before we work hard to take care of it. Before we are willing to give our sweat, tears, best efforts too it, we want to feel motivated/engaged/bought in.More often, I am beginning to think, our call is to Do It Anyway, despite our feelings. We are to show up, work hard, give our best, and care for what and whom we have been given whether we feel like it or not.  Whether what we have been given is what we would choose or not.And if we can do this out of place of gratefulness and obedience to " do everything that way, heartily and freely to God’s glory." rather than  from a place of resentment, then all the better. And I bet all the quicker our hearts will change as well.

peace and love friends,J