Seasons of Life

Spring in Houston is a lovely time of year.

Sometime in very late February or early March, a precious few weeks of cool breezes and blue skies drift in like a breath of fresh air. The verse, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!” is so easy to say these days!

Especially the ‘rejoice and be glad’ part.

Thankfulness has been on my heart this particular spring. More specifically, thankfulness for the little blessings of this “season” of my life.

As Christians, we are called to “give thanks in all things” (1 Thes 5:18). This spring, God has been showing me that living out this Christian life of thanks is about recognizing all of the little blessings I have to be thankful for in every season of my life.

So what am I thankful for these days?

I just finished my first trimester of being pregnant with my second baby. I’ve had a healthy pregnancy so far—praise God! Being pregnant can certainly be tough at times, but it’s definitely an especially joyful season of life. And my morning sickness has been easing up (ever so slowly), meaning that I’ve been feeling up to cooking again. (Thank goodness, since I was getting pretty tired of frozen pizza and macaroni and cheese!)

And as I anticipate the birth of my little one in September, I a finding a few more things I am thankful for related to parenting and motherhood.

Compared to all of the work and attention that new babies require (not to mention loss of sleep!), Gabriel is a piece of cake! First, I love how portable Gabriel is these days. We can now put him down for bed in his pack-and-play just about anywhere, so we can stretch “our” 7pm bedtime. We got to attend a game night at a friend’s house last weekend, even though our babysitter fell through. Another thing I’m thankful for? Gabriel sleeps all night. Every night. And at meals, he eats pretty much what we eat now—no more constant chopping and pureeing and spoon-feeding him every meal (I made my own baby food when he was younger).

And there are other little things I’m thankful for, like the fact that he fits into the adorable pair of Nike tennis shoes someone gave us, and the fact that he is absolutely irresistibly cute when he brushes his teeth (er, chews on his toothbrush) because he always smiles the entire time.

Aside from this season of life’s little blessings in parenthood, I recognize other things to be thankful for right now.

My husband and I have been sharing a car for a little while now, and while it’s been something of a big challenge for sure, I’ve secretly been thankful for the extra time together and better communication that sharing a car has required.

I am also looking forward to my last few months as a “working mom” (just who coined that term by the way? Like being a mother isn’t one of the toughest full-time jobs I can think of!). I recently let the public relations firm I work with know that my last day will be at the end of May. After May, I will enter the noble ranks of Stay At Home Mothers—and I couldn’t be more excited.

Those are my humble Thankful For’s of the moment. And that’s not counting all those little moments during the day when God shows sends me a little love note—my favorite song on the radio, Gabriel sleeping in an extra half hour in the morning, my rice coming out like it’s supposed to for once, having a friend drop by for dinner.

I think that God wants us to find joy in the little things, because the little things are where He chooses to hide many of the blessings He gives us.

What are you thankful for in this season of your life?