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Is this your best day ever?  Recently I handed my four year old three marshmallows and he proclaimed, “This is my best day ever!”  Wow.  What if we could get that excited about the little things?  Wouldn’t it be great if we could let the happy little things influence our days like that?

What if when we woke up in the morning our first thought was, “This is great, I have another day on planet earth!  I can’t wait to see what happens today!”  Better yet, what if we actually looked for the happy things, the blessings hiding throughout our days?

Ann Voskamp’s book, “One Thousand Gifts” made a huge impact on me in this area.*  She was challenged by a friend to write down one thousand blessings.  The book is about her journey as she pursued that challenge and how it changed her outlook on life.  As she started writing things down, she was able to start seeing the blessings hiding in plain sight.

As I have written my own list of gifts, it has helped me see good things even in days that I would not necessarily call my best.  That list has also helped me see God’s faithfulness in showing up over and over to surprise me with blessings:  the sun shining through an oak tree; a perfect spider web covered in dew drops; a little boy excited about a few marshmallows.

But what about the days that are really hard?  As Ann continued on her journey of discovering gifts, she learned about seeing the blessings even in the dark times.  I really believe God is still there in those times waiting to show us the good gifts He has put throughout our days and also to help us look at situations from His point of view.  Someone was telling me about a video they saw about a mom having what she thought was a really rough day.  Then she got to hear her daughter tell her daddy about the day from her point of view and everything “bad” that had happened was actually “happy” in the little girl’s eyes.

May we not get so caught up in the perfect that we fail to see the best.  My challenge to all of us is to look for the gifts in each moment, “good” or “bad” and maybe this will be our best day ever!

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;  his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.”  Lamentations 3:22-23

* I would highly recommend Ann Voskamp’s book, “One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are” published by Zondervan.

Because I have eight children, it is hard to get quality time alone with each one.  I try to find opportunities for one-on-one time by taking a child with me when I run an errand or have a day of grocery shopping.  It might not be the most exciting thing, but it gives us special time together.  I try to make it more fun by inserting a treat into the day here and there.  With such a large family going out to eat is a rarity, so I usually buy them lunch.  The bins at the WinCo store have great candy so I might let them pick out a few pieces.  For my ones that love Starbucks like their Mommy does, we might stop for a “coffee break.”

It does get a little frustrating though, because a lot of the time as our day together goes on, the children start to expect a treat every time I turn around.  Which, then of course means we get to have a conversation about gratefulness and contentment!  When I get to spend time with my children I want it to be about building our relationship and getting to know each other better, not just about what I can give them.

I love getting to spend quiet time with my heavenly Father.  When I do get time to be still and pray, I want to make sure I am not just asking for blessings for myself, which honestly mostly have to do with material things that He has already promised through the Bible that He will provide.  I would rather spend time worshiping who He is and getting to know Him better.

If I am crying out like a toddler, “More, more!”  I would rather it be for more love and patience with my children, more love for my fellow human beings, and for more of Jesus in my life.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:25 & 6:32-33

I have the strangest thoughts sometimes.  I was looking out the window a few minutes ago at the weeds one of my sons recently cut down, and I noticed that instead of giving up they just bloomed close to the ground where they were cut.  I thought, “I wish I was that tough.  That when a frustrated boy whacked my head off I just decided to bloom anyway.”  I guess that is a somewhat different spin on the saying, “Bloom where you are planted.”  It would be nice when things are really awful to have the tenacity to just smile anyway and know I have the joy of the Lord.  In reality a lot of the time when the weed whacker hits me, I just lay there drying up in the sun.

Another thing about weeds is they will grow anywhere.  They come up in cracks in any sidewalk or patio.  Just give them a teaspoon of soil and a few drops of water and here they come.  They aren’t like me.  I have to wait until the conditions are perfect until I bloom.  “God you can’t possibly use me yet, I haven’t learned enough.  My home is a mess, my kids are a mess, I’m a mess!”  God responds, “If you have Me, you have everything you need.  And besides, it’s not about you doing it anyway, but Me doing things through you.”

One of my favorite things about weeds is being presented with a little fist full of “flowers” from my children.  They are so happy and proud to give Mommy a beautiful bouquet.  All spring long my counter is adorned with vases filled with these offerings of love.

I want to learn to be like weeds.  I want to bloom where I’m planted.  I want to use the resources God gives me, and not complain about what I don’t have.  When someone is mean to me I want to be able to forgive and grow past the hurt.  And at the end of my life I would be so happy to have Jesus present me to His Father as a beautiful bouquet, an offering of love. 

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.  James 1:12

My family recently had a week off for spring break.  We had intended to go camping, but there were no campgrounds open yet and the weather was calling for rain mid-week.  I decided to come up with a list of family activities and try to do one or two a day.  I couldn’t tell my kids what the activities were ahead of time or when we might be doing them, because my kids are those set-in-stone type of people that can’t deviate from a plan, (don’t know where they get that!)  My idea worked fairly well, the children enjoyed the surprise of ice cream on Monday and s’mores later that evening.  The thing I saw as the week went on though, was that it was hard to convince them to stop one fun activity so we could do a different one.

We tried to explain it to them: my oldest told a younger sibling that it is like being at Disneyland and the next day not being able to be at Disneyland again because you get to go to Lego Land.  It started me thinking about God and all the things He has in store for us.  I knew all the fun things I had planned for my kids, but I couldn’t tell them, I just needed them to trust that I had their best interests at heart.  I know we are familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  These words are so true!  God has so much planned for me, and like my kids, there are times I can’t let go of what I see in front of me right now in order for Him to give me something even better.

Later, when I look back at a surprise God has given me, I can imagine Him being excited, having a hard time waiting until the time was right for me to have it.  He delights to give us good gifts, fun times even, just as I love to surprise my children and see the looks of delight on their faces.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  James 1:17

“I’m sorry, but the forecast is calling for pouring rain all weekend.”  My thirteen year old fisherman did not take the canceling of his camping/fishing trip well.  He had spent two days preparing already.  Sorting fishing gear, carefully finding and counting worms to make sure he had enough.  He was basically ready for two weeks of back country survival, (the canceled trip was for two days at a local lake.)

I hate to see my children disappointed.  I know life has so many disappointments in store for them.  In the grand scheme of things, a canceled fishing trip is nothing, however, it was everything to my son this day.  In the future, I will not always be able to make things better for my children when life is hard, but for now I try to find ways to soften the blows.  I am also queen of, “When life hands you lemons make lemonade. No lemons?  Well, we’ll find something else.”  Sometimes my children are so loudly bemoaning their change of plans, that it is hard to get them to calm down a moment so I can think of an alternative solution.  I try to remind them that I am there for them even as they are sad.

Occasionally though, when my own plans are disrupted, I can throw a fit every bit as intense as my children.  It might look different, but believe me it’s not pretty.  When I calm down for a minute I remember, just like my children can hand their disappointments to me, I can bring mine to God.  He is our good Father who hates to see us sad.  Sometimes He has to say no to something we really thought we wanted, but He is always there to hold us when our plans are upset.  And when He reveals His ultimate plan in the situation, it is always better than the one we thought we wanted.  Unlike me, God is never surprised at things getting canceled.  My plan “B” was His plan “A”, and He had planned on us having lemonade all along.

So on this day I loaded up my son and took him fishing before it started to rain.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

“We missed again!”  Every year on St. Patrick’s day our home has been invaded by small mischief makers.  Drawing on schoolwork, getting into our sugar canisters, and leaving notes about our inability to catch them.  To combat this problem my children set increasingly complicated traps.  Somehow those pesky leprechauns continue to evade them year after year.  The disappointment of the leprechauns’ escape is tempered however, by the fact that as they flee they drop chocolate gold coins from their pockets.  Somehow they always drop just the right amount to be divided evenly among my children.

This year my oldest happened upon the sprung traps and scattered gold early in the morning before anyone else was awake.  Carefully counting the coins, he determined that each person would receive three.  He went back to bed, not disturbing the crime scene in any way.  Somehow between his visit and the waking up of the whole group of children, one of our own leprechauns quietly got up, ate three coins and went back to bed.  This might not sound surprising, but there is something deeper going on in this particular child.

If you have more than one child, you already know how different kids can be even while being raised in the same home.  For this child of mine, for some reason there is a sense of lack, of maybe missing out.  It comes out in a lot of different ways, one being sneaking treats.  It is difficult to see her feel this way.  As her mother I want her to feel abundantly taken care of, abundantly loved, even to the point of being spoiled.  What I don’t want her to miss out on is this love and abundance that is actually right in front of her.

As always, when I see something in my children God shows me it in myself.  I too have struggled with a sense of lack.  I have to remind myself all the time that God is my good father and He lavishes His provisions on me.  In the same way I want my daughter to have a sense of abundance, He wants me to feel the same way.  He doesn’t want me to not be able to see what is right in front of me already.

There was a point in the Israelites’ travels through the desert that they cried out for meat.  They had what they felt was a lack, they thought God was keeping something from them.  They failed to see God’s provision already in front of them in the form of manna.  There are so many times I am like that.  Something triggers in me and I feel I am missing out.  When God gently reminds me of His goodness and I turn my eyes back to Him as my ultimate provider, I can again see the “manna” blessings in front of me, God’s lavish, abundant, provision in my life and I realize I am not lacking anything.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  Matthew 7:9-11