Bills. Litter boxes. Ratchet customers who haven’t caught.on to the 21st century, 20% tip memo. Dishes. Dental appointments. Sticky, whining children. Sticky, whining adults. Cracked windshields. Rain. So much rain.

Sometimes it’s hard to catch a glimpse of God.

Everything seems so..blah.

Boring.

Routine.

Uninspiring.

It seems as though it would be easier if we lived on retreat. Permanent Vacation Angela (coffee mug and Bible sold separately) wakes up each morning, walks out the door and just breathes in the luminous beauty of mountain, sea, and sky. God is easy to experience in those moments.

If only. Even there, life would press in. Someone would have to pay for the cabin rental, and dishes would inevitably pile themselves up in the sink. After the first day loneliness would sink in, and Wal-Mart would have to be braved eventually when the last of the free-roaming, pastured eggs were used in an omelette.

Wherever we find ourselves, reality follows.

Life=work. Relationships=work. A lifetime of relationship with God=work.

Time and effort.

It’s easy to let God become just one more thing on our “to do” list.

However, if we would just make a practice, a discipline of putting him first, our to do list would look a lot different..or at least, it would feel a lot different!

Then we would know his character, hear his voice, and be assured that there is purpose and beauty in each day, in every life!

This is a list I put together a couple days ago that makes me happy. These words represent what is really important to me in the grand scheme of things.

It reminds me that God created us because he delights in us, and to choose him means to choose all the things that bring us into a whole, healthy, joyful existence.

It reminds me that I am valuable and loved. That there is beauty to be had in the midst of the mundane. When I seek him, I find all these good things, and I am satisfied.

When we remember the truth of what makes life beautiful, even a rainy, boring Thursday is  woven with brightly-colored evidence of the divine.

Just look.

Ang