A few months ago I was at a coffee shop with a friend, and we were talking about how we were both in a place where life was kind of monotonous. I was a little bit discouraged, but she looked at me and said, “You need to enjoy the little, every day things. That’s how you get out of that hole.”
And how often do we look at those things and recognize them as awesome things, and really enjoy them?
This week has been a crazy week. Sunday morning was welcomed in by a 6.4 earthquake. Being the Michigan girl I am, I thought the noise was a tornado and freaked out because we had no basement or really a real door. It was terrifying, but an amazing display of what kind of crazy, intricate, beautiful science that God used to create this world. Plus nothing and no one was hurt, so that was cool.
Monday we went to the beach, and the waves were all loco from the earthquake. It was so fun! Then I watched the movie Benny and Joon, and it was beautiful and awesome, largely because Johnny Depp was in it.
Tuesday was my 19th birthday, and God just sprinkled the whole day with little gifts. I woke up to Kaitlyn taping balloons around my bed. My teammates made me beautiful cards and were totally speaking my love language(words of affirmation!). Our cooks Antonia and Estella sang a cute Spanish song of blessings over me. We had PANCAKES for breakfast! We got ready for ministry and 27 people were packed in the truck, going on another adventure to a village to tell people about Jesus. As I sat on the floor of the truck, I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched all these beautiful people. The roads of the village were like a roller coaster. I read the Bible in Spanish! I talked to my parents, and my birthday cake was a slice of bread with five candles on it.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like your dream birthday, but all those little things add up, and by the end of the day, my heart was full. When you look at your life, what do you see as blessings, things to be happy about? Is it just the big stuff, or do you see all the little things along the way?
See those. It’s all in the little things. The little ways people show love, like a child climbing on your back when you don’t expect it. The little pretty things, like the way it looks outside at 6:00 in the morning. The little surprises, like when you think you’ve eaten all your Oreos but there’s one pack left.
Enjoy these things, for “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all He created.” James 1:17-18
