Life is a daily thing. Most of life isn’t the big moments. Love your “daily” and find God in those moments. Find delight in your little things, and look for the beauty in the relationships entrusted to you. – Moral Revolution

Saturday was a bad day. NOTHING went the way I’d hoped. No. Thing. It had begun full of excitement and promise, but ended up being such a let down. I was running it all through my mind that night when I decided to send my friend this photo I had seen a few days before. I didn’t just send the photo though. I added my own comments as well- whine, complain, moan, groan, poor pitiful me.

The reply I received was unexpected: “Sorry to hear. BTW – I love socks. Getting socks is one of the best gifts there is”.

I didn’t think much of it at first. I just giggled at the seemingly lighthearted response, which was good because I had been so tightly wound. The words kept tugging at me though. I re-read my friend’s reply a couple of times when it hit me – they meant I should be thankful for days like this. My first thought was kind of snarky, of course. I said to myself, “Yeah, that’s great. Socks are great. I like a nice pair of socks. But you know what? I ALWAYS get socks. How about diamonds for a change?? I like diamonds too.”

Then I began to think of all the people that would love for the biggest problem with their son to be that he didn’t get to play in the varsity football game that day. It wasn’t drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, or any of the other issues I hear of people dealing with on a daily basis. It wasn’t even disrespect, disobedience, or waywardness. It was just a brokenhearted boy who had given his all for a long time, and didn’t get the prize – not yet anyway.

The day could have been SOOO much worse. Like – very much worse. We’ve been through days that were so hard I would have given almost anything for a day like that Saturday. During some of our roughest trials I have longed for simple, mundane days, or just anything that resembled normal. Saturday may not have been very exciting, even a bit disappointing, but still a gift. There is beauty to be found in days like these.

All around us, terrible circumstances exist. I am so grateful for 3 healthy, relatively spoiled boys. They are fine. They have victories, they have disappointments, just like everyone else. They are living this thing called life, and I don’t have to worry about them. I pray for them and wait expectantly for God to answer my prayers for their lives. He is working, even when I cannot see it; even when it feels like we have baskets full of socks. If I could pause and be thankful I believe I would see there are diamonds among them. If I can’t find the diamonds, I realize now that socks are pretty nice too.