How to Savor Life and Find Deeper Joy in the Ordinary

I take my bike to the open road at the end of a too-long day just to feel the air brush up against my skin.  I want the breeze to carry my cares across the hay fields, where they might get lost and tangled in the dormant silage stubble.  I’m not pondering how to savor life as I speed down the road; mostly, I’m embracing how good it feels to take a break from the chaos of our energy-filled home.

I’m three miles into my 12-mile route when I see it.

There’s a balloon flogging in the wind, tied to a small headstone in the little country cemetery.   It reads, “Happy Birthday!”  The contrast of the shining, colorful balloon against the backdrop of the cemetery is stark.  Like a paradox.

How can celebration and grief coexist?

I don’t know why I do it, but something draws me to slow the bike.  I turn into the cemetery and make slim tire tracks through the grass and straight to the grave with the balloon.

As I approach, I see several small toys on the headstone, a birthday card, and a tiny muffin with an unlit candle propped in the midst of it all.  I climb from the bike and read the card:

“Happy birthday, little buddy.  Love, Gram and Pap”

The Truth about Learning How to Savor Life

The headstone tells me Gram and Pap’s little buddy only lived to be one month old.  Tears come as I imagine the family gathered around the grave and imagine their heartache.  I think of the loved ones we’ve lost – close friends and family members who have walked this difficult road.  In an instant, the struggle of my long day at home with irritable little ones is turned upside down.

There were fights to break up and lessons to be learned.

We dealt with broken eggs and full pitchers of spilled lemonade.  One child shed tears throughout the entirety of meal prep.  A little one fell headfirst into the tub while I attempted to shower.  There were arguments over screen time, moments of intentional disobedience, and more.

I lost my patience more than once.  I decided all I wanted was a break from the chaos and couldn’t get out of the driveway on the bike fast enough when Daddy came to take over.

How to Re-frame the Hard Parts of Your Life

But the birthday balloon on the little guy’s headstone re-frames it all.

I climb back onto the bike, wiping tears on my shirt, and I pedal away slowly, changed.

My kids fought all day long, but my house is filled with noise and life and love.

We learned a few lessons the hard way today, but we are here together, and we get to keep learning together, growing together, and surrendering to love together.

I rarely get to embrace the gift of a shower without a one-year-old pulling back the curtain and attempting to climb in with me.  But he is beautiful and adorable.  If he weren’t here to interrupt my morning routine, I would weep without his cheerful presence at my side.

Giving Thanks for What You Do Have

Our house is loud and wild and impossible to keep clean, but it is filled with vitality and joy, and I really wouldn’t trade it.  If the noise and energy were suddenly taken away, there would be the deepest kind of ache in the marrow of my soul.

Maybe your house isn’t filled with the raucous of noisy children.  Perhaps you stood over your own brand of headstone not too long ago, but I imagine there’s something good in your life.

There’s someone who smiles at you and sparks a reminder of what love looks like.

There’s a roof over your head.  You have dark-roast coffee to drink, good books to read, and delicious candles to smell.

There’s something good.

Creating Space to Relish the Good and Savor Life with its Gifts

I need it, and I wonder if you might need it too: space to step back and relish the good, to think about what life would be like without our most treasured gifts.

Let’s savor and give thanks for all that’s good right now.  You never know when you might be headed straight for your own cemetery day.  A day when everything changes, and you’d give just about anything for ten more minutes to relish the good gifts.

Let’s savor and give thanks for all that’s good right now, because you never know when you might be headed for a day when you’d give anything for ten more minutes to relish the good gifts. #embracinglife #gratitude Share on X

I keep pumping my legs to get down the road, but I’m riding slower than when I first left the house.  I’m not escaping something; I’m relishing something.  That flapping birthday balloon reminds me to savor life, just as it is.

On Pondering What’s Right

From this day forward, I make a silent vow.  It’s a promise to create space to savor life, step back from my moments, and meditate on the beauty of my reality.

There are plenty of imperfect parts of our lives, parts just waiting for redemption.  Some of us get caught up in pondering what’s wrong in our lives.

It takes work to create space to savor life, but if we don’t do the work, we might just miss the greatest of gifts of all.  The scent of waffles in the iron on a snowy winter morning.  The sound of children laughing.  Muddy footprints across the otherwise clean tile.  Stubble in the sink.  Barefoot summer afternoons.  Mornings so bitter that cold the ice freezes to eyelashes.

If we’re not careful, these everyday moments will slip through our fingertips, and we’ll look back to realize we missed them.  Because you miss them every time you grumble instead of giving thanks.  You miss them when you escape into your phone or your television or a bag of potato chips.  You miss them when you don’t stay in the thick middle of your moments and choose to give thanks for what you still have.

Let’s stay in our moments.

Let’s create space to relish them and see if we don’t start to live the lives we’ve been craving all along.

A Free Online Devotional to Help You Learn How to Savor Life

This post is a part of a series called Space for Your Soul to Stretch.   Does the idea of slipping away to a beautiful place to recharge and refresh sound inviting?  Space for Your Soul to Stretch is your invitation to create space to rest in God’s presence.  Each day invites you to enter into God’s created world and spend time in his written Word.  You will walk away from this journey replenished and refreshed each day.   It is my free gift to you here.

These Two Books are Free on Kindle Unlimited as eBooks and Also Available in Print:

God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone.  Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life.  Find this life-changing book in eBook form for free on the Kindle Unlimited Plan or for 12.99 in print right here.  (You can sign up for a free three-month Kindle Unlimited trial if you are not a member.) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!

Calling All Moms and Daughters!

Additionally, my 12-year-old daughter, Bekah, and I wrote a mother-daughter devotional book to help mothers and daughters grow closer together while connecting with God.  Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith includes 60 devotions with Scripture, commentaries from both of us, conversation starters, and even a shared journaling section.  Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by this book!  You can find this book in eBook form for free on the Kindle Unlimited Plan or buy a print copy for 11.99 right here.