Life is Good, God is Great

It has been an amazing year for our little family.  Full of change and challenges, but full of abounding blessings and goodness.  Life is not, and never will be, without opposition.  That is the way it was meant to be.  There will always be the good days and the bad days, or weeks, or months.  But how can I wake up breathing each day and kiss my children each night without realizing the ways in which God has blessed me?  I think that is what is so wonderful about the Holiday season.  We realize what we have and how our bounty didn’t come to be by chance.  Because of the goodness of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, we are allowed to experience every aspect of this beautiful life.  We get to grow, and serve, and do better each and every day in hopes to align our lives more readily with Christ.

I think the principle of gratitude is so essential in our world today.  There is so much negativity, ugliness, and sadness permeating our lives that it can be so easy to become pessimistic and ungrateful.  On Sunday a sister in our ward expressed that if she could only teach her children one thing in this life it would be gratitude.  Late in Relief Society, when discussing how we can teach our children to be truly happy, the idea of instilling within them a thankful heart was discussed over and over again.  When I think of my mother, one of the happiest and most optimistic people I know, I realize that these traits come from her gratitude for what she does have, rather than feeling disappointment or sorrow for what she may not.  I hope that I can be an example of happiness and humility to my children.  That they will always know that no matter our current circumstances or the trials that we have faced, I will always be thankful to my God for what he has given me.

Our Thanksgiving celebrations were perfect this year.  It was our third year running as the Thanksgiving hosts, so this year seemed basically effortless.  I didn’t actually start planning my menu or grocery shopping until Wednesday morning, and I was certain I was going to be sorry about that fact.  Remember how Billings has two grocery stores?  Well Wal-Mart came up big and had every ingredient available that was on my list, plus short check-out lines to boot; and in the end I left that day with a little bit of confidence restored in that horrid place.

Most people dread the thought (or actual act) of planning and preparing the Thanksgiving feast, but I have to admit I kind of love it.  I like busting out my fancier dishes, making a mess in my kitchen, and displaying the food in coordinating dishes.  I love to cook and try new recipes and every single dish turned out better than I could have hoped this year.  I even made rolls!  From scratch!  With yeast!  I don’t like yeast.  It scares me, so this was sort of a big deal.  We are out of bread so maybe tomorrow I will attempt that.  We shall see.

We were lucky to have Ryan’s parents make the trek from Logan to party with us for a few days.  It was a short trip, but the girls always love having their Nana and Papa around to play with or hijack Apple technology from.  We fit in a little Holiday shopping and far too many episodes of Duck Dynasty, but they somehow managed to disappear before it was time to put up the Christmas tree.  I don’t blame them, as much as I want holiday decorating to be a magical family event it just, well, isn’t.

We were also lucky to have our Logan-Billings besties join us and contribute some delicious food.  Poor Trey gets roped into playing dress up every time he comes over, and I am fairly certain it does not make his dad too happy.  I really need to get some costumes a little boy (and his father) wouldn’t mind wearing.  We love these friends and are so grateful to share our time in Billings with them.  They make life here so much sweeter!

I am most grateful that my day was spent with these people.  In fact, the last four days straight have been spent with them as somehow the stars aligned and Ryan’s one long weekend every other month just happened to fall on this one.  It has been wonderful and we are so lucky when we get to spend our days with him.  I am grateful for the beauty I can find in my day to day.   Every moment is not happy and magical, but when it comes down to it I can certainly find at least one bright spot among the chaos. 

Life is good, God is great.