Today was beautiful because:

I got to sleep in and catch up on some much needed rest.

I went maternity clothes shopping with with my amazing sister, Katie.

I tried something new (more on that later).

I held a tiny baby boy until he fell asleep in my arms.

Someone bought me free Subway for holding that tiny baby while the mom did her a favor =).

My husband made me iced chai when I had a headache.

We got to laugh together while watching episodes of The Office on Netflix.

We went for a nice walk and enjoyed the COOL evening breeze (we'll enjoy it while it lasts!)

This hope that carries me.


 There is  beauty and wonder to discover in the ordinary-ness of our lives, but we miss it if we live so hurriedly that we can't see it in the moment or if we don't take the time to reflect on it at the end of the day. I don't say this because I'm en expert at it. Giving thanks and seeing beauty in the ordinary don't come naturally to me. I am much more prone to be negative. But I need to be thankful precisely because I am so prone to despair. I must fight for joy because my default is  complaining and pessimism. 

Proverbs 14:30 says, "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot," And if envy is what makes a person's bones (their whole inner structure and stability) rot, then might it be that the opposite of envy--contentment--is what produces a tranquil heart? And isn't contentment fueled and sustained by thankfulness, by thanking God for what is, rather than pining for what is not? Elisabeth Elliot ( Let Me Be A Woman) says it another way:

        We accept and thank God for what is given, not allowing the not-given to spoil it.

And when I am discontent, when I complain, when I'm not thankful, when I allow myself to spiral into despair because things aren't going my way, I suddenly become blind to everything that I do have. Because I can't be thankful for what I have and at the same time be discontent over what I don't have. I am extremely blessed, but like all of us, I face trials of various kinds. Some days the beauty and the blessings seem very difficult to see. But it's on those days that this confession will often come to mind:

             Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Friends, this is my hope. And if you know this Christ, here is your hope also. The blessings I counted today are truly gifts from a gracious and loving God, but a day may come when my legs might not bear me up for a walk in the neighborhood, or when I no longer even have my sweet husband. Though I count these blessings, my hope is not in the blessings themselves, but in the Giver of all good things--the Giver of even His own Son. On the hardest of days I can give thanks for the objective reality that Christ has died, risen, and will come again. Count your blessings. Keep counting them if you already do. But know that if  it ever seems like there's nothing to count, if grief or disappointment threaten to swallow  you up, who Jesus is and what He has done for you still stand and knowing Him will forever give us reason for thanksgiving.