I know that everyone under the sun has said it before but I'm gonna say it again...These days I find that life is just flying past, day after day, week after week, month after month, it's all going so quickly! There are so many of us who say how quickly last year flew in, how fast this year seems to be going & how far away Christmas seems already.
And they're not wrong. I mean, January is over! Christmas is but a distant memory, a haze of too much chocolate, too much turkey, too many sweets, too many festive flavoured coffees. January was saturated with resolutions, goals, getting fit, eating healthily, saving money...as I'm sure it has been every year, for everyone.
But, now we're in February. This year is already going past so quickly & it's barely even begun. I've said before that I'm excited for this year & everything it's (hopefully) going to hold. At the same time though, I want to fully enjoy this year. I don't want to wish it all away in countdowns to trips & events (who doesn't love a good countdown!), & forget to enjoy the everyday things, like chilling out with some of my fave people watching TV, or going on little walks with David + Honey, going to Church + YF & seeing how incredible our young people are, or going on coffee dates, or falling apart laughing at ourselves failing at the gym.
I think it's little things like those that keep me sane. It's so exciting to go away on weekend breaks & to be able to have trips like those fairly regularly, and I am so thankful that we can...But it's the little things that truly hold us together, that make me feel like I've had a good week, month or even year!
I think it's time for us all to take a step back from all the big milestones, and deadlines, and ‘trip of a lifetime’ experiences and just breathe. Just take a minute to be thankful for all that we have, for all the simple things there are that make us happy. Life is made up of so much more than just the big things.
Thankfulness, however, is quite strange. When I think about it, like actually sit down and consider the idea of thankfulness, it seems like it should be 2nd nature for us. Something that is so natural that we are always, constantly in a state of thankfulness.
But that is far from the case. As bad as it sounds, I am far from thankful most of the time (10 points for honesty!). It’s only when someone else talks about it, or mentions it even casually that I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, it's so important to be thankful for all that we have, I'm going to make more of an effort!’
It’s so bad and I feel terrible about it every time I realise, but honestly it’s not long then until I kind of forget about it and go back to not really thinking about it.
So it’s not that I’m not thankful in my everyday life, but more that it’s just not something that’s at the forefront of my thoughts every day. Sometimes when Christians talk about being thankful they list all the huge, really obvious things we should be thankful for. Like:
Jesus being our Saviour,
God loving us & providing for us,
our families,
our health,
our education,
having food on the table
& a bed to sleep
in at night.
Obviously (I hope!), I'm not trying to trivialise any of these things, they are all amazing things we should be thankful for & I'm so grateful that I can say that I have these things.
What I am saying is, there is so much more in life to be thankful for as well and I think that we sometimes forget about the small things in favour of the bigger, more prominent things in our lives.
So I just want to encourage you, whoever is reading this, to be thankful for the small things in life that may seem unimportant, and get overlooked as well as the larger things. Be thankful for the things that make you smile unexpectedly, that make you realise how great your friends are, that make you want to get out of bed in the morning, that brighten your day a little bit, or that make you realise how lucky you are! Even be thankful that your hair is looking great, that there's a pretty blue sky, or that your train was on time, or that you found your headphones even though you thought you'd left them at home!
The little things are vital to our overall happiness, and I don't think they get enough credit. So I'm going to make more of an effort to appreciate the small blessings in life, alongside the major, amazing ones.
What little things are you thankful for?
