It's the Little Things...

Friday afternoon, as I was walking back to my office from a classroom, one of our teachers called my name and told me that I looked beautiful.   It came out of nowhere and was totally unexpected.  Three words, “You look beautiful” changed the rest of the day for me.  I felt a warm glow of love and simple joy as I went about finishing up the work week.  It’s remarkable what an impact a few words can have and I’ve been reflecting on those little things that make me smile, bring me joy and make an ordinary moment extraordinary.

Here’s a few of my little things right now:

Cooler weather -  I live in Phoenix and the summers are brutal.  By the middle of September, I am through with triple-digit temperatures and just when I feel like I can’t take another day of air conditioning, the heat begins to break.  I am now driving to work with my windows down relishing the cool breeze.  It’s still 100 degrees in the afternoon but the mornings make it tolerable.

Chick-Fil-A Diet Lemonade - I gave up drinking diet sodas back in February of this year and I know my body is healthier for it.  But I often found myself craving something else to drink besides tea and water.  Enter Chick-Fil-A’s diet lemonade.  On a whim I bought a cup hoping that it wouldn’t taste like lemon flavored water.  One sip and I knew this was no ordinary lemonade!  It is tangy and lemony and absolutely refreshing!  My taste buds sing when I treat myself to this wonderful cup of deliciousness!  And a large only has 30 calories…what more could I ask for in a glass of icy goodness?

Adhesive - Sounds strange I know, but I am a scrapbooker and adhesive is a must have.  Good adhesive is important to creating long-lasting scrapbook pages.  I never have enough adhesive.  Tape runners, glue dots, pop dots, liquid glue, spray adhesive…the list goes on and I am always running out.  So getting a new refill for my tape runner or opening a fresh package of pop dots always brings a smile to my face.

My Prayer Group - This may sound like a big thing and it is but there’s a lot of little things that I cherish.   Like knowing that there will always be hard boiled eggs and homemade muffins to enjoy or realizing that we are creatures of habit and sit in the same seats every time we meet or having a box of my tea in the cabinet and a kettle of hot water waiting for me when I arrive.

My grandchildren - Sometimes it seems that there are literally thousands of them but in reality I have six beautiful little people in my life who call me Gramma.  These little souls make me laugh (they make me angry and make me cry too but that’s another blog) and I can’t get enough of it!  The oldest is 11 and the youngest is almost 4 months old and they all laugh with their whole beings!  Their laughter is such a gift to me.

New office supplies, pretty nail polish, a good hair day, a gentleman who holds a door open for me, there are so many little things that can make a day bright.  Sitting on my patio is a little pleasure for me right now after this long summer of being cooped up.  It’s the little things that sometimes matter most when you look at the big picture.  I know they say “don’t sweat the small stuff,” but I say we should also “cherish the little things” for they are the stuff that grace is made of!