(Last Updated on January 21, 2023)
Our God is so good.
He knows what we need and he meets us where we’re at… even when “where you’re at” is buried under three loads of laundry, surrounded by a hopeless mess in every direction, with a crying toddler hanging on your leg, an oven timer beeping, and older kids who are fighting instead of finishing their math.
It was in a moment like this a few days ago that He caught my attention through the (unbelievably incessant) singing of the PBS character, Daniel Tiger.
“When something seems bad, turn it around and find something good.”
You make it sound so easy, Daniel.
But in that moment God reminded me that it doesn’t have to be as hard as I often make it. I’m surrounded by blessings – literally surrounded. Each frustration in that moment could be reframed as a blessing.
- Three loads of laundry? An abundance of warm clothes for my family!
- Hopeless mess and clutter? Plenty of toys, supplies, books, and gadgets to enrich our learning and life experiences!
- Pesky oven timer? A warm meal to nourish and sustain us!
- A crying toddler & older kids fighting? Three precious gifts from God!
Even on my worst days there is so much to be grateful for. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and miss the blessings right in front of us.
Maybe the only way God could get through to my overwhelmed mommy brain was through the maddeningly-repetitive songs of a cartoon character meant for three-year-olds, but I’m glad He reached down through the laundry pile to get a hold of me.
All of this reminded me just how important gratitude is and how easy it is to forget to count our blessings and find the good, especially in our hard moments and seasons. To model thankfulness for my kids, we got gratitude journals for Christmas this year. The one I got for our boys is no longer available, but this one is similar. I got myself this one. I’m hoping it will be a small step we can take toward a new tradition of daily gratitude.
** 2019 Update: It’s been about 7 months since we started using our gratitude journals and they’ve been really helpful in reminding us to be thankful and content! My biggest issue with using them is my own inconsistency in remembering to fill them out with my kids. But when we DO use them, it’s so great to see what my kids write! **
** 2021 Update: My older kids have still loved using their journals, so we got this similar one for my preschooler so she can participate, too. **
Click here to check out what else we can learn from Daniel Tiger in Part 2 of this series!
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