Half a Years Worth of Pictures?

#sigosherts

Has it really been six months since I last posted? That is so hard to believe. Most days feel the same, and go by in a blur, but when I take the time to stop and look at my pictures, I find that along the way, we have had many memorable moments.

A couple of months ago, I had a phone date with my dearest friend from college. In an effort to get us chatting like old times, I asked her what her favorite thing she did that past month was. Then I quickly opened my calendar because I knew she’d be asking me the same. Without the use of my calendar, I would have been at a loss for words, unable to remember what I had done, let alone pick my favorite. As I scrolled through the previous weeks in my calendar, looking at all I had actually done, I began to smile. I had forgotten how the mundane things of just living (laundry, cooking…) can become the only things I think about when I think about my days.

I just finished re-reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and again found myself so convicted of not taking the time to be grateful for the things God gives me every day. Looking back on pictures of events and the people I stopped to spend time with helps me foster the attitude of gratitude I want to always have.

My eyes regularly turn to the mud on the porch, tracked in by a gaggle of neighbor kids in addition to my own, or the trail of ants that found the random dropped peanut on my floor, or the garbage that litters the streets here in Honiara. What I am trying to remind myself to do instead is look at the many gifts that come to me by the very hand of God every day. The 2-year-old’s giggle that comes from her toes. The 9-year-old’s amazing math abilities, which astound me. The 13-year-old’s heart to serve others in whatever way she can. The 17-year-old child of mine, soon to be a man, who possesses a character of pure gold. The sky that is so blue that it takes my breath away every time I take the time to look up. The puffy white clouds that seem so close I could snatch them right out of the sky. All these gifts that come to me from a gracious heavenly Father. I am truly blessed.

With this heart of gratitude, then, I now take the time to post these pictures, snapshots into a very messy and crazy life, but a blessed life, because I know that I am loved by a good God who gives nothing but good gifts.