@thatencouragingmama: I caught myself doing something the other day. Something I do way more often than I’d like to admit. I was sitting in a moment I had genuinely been looking forward to… and I was already thinking about what was next. The next thing on the calendar. The next trip. The next project. The next season. The next thing I needed to get done. And it hit me how fast the things we pray for become the things we rush through. We wait months for summer. The last day of school. The pool days. The family vacation. The slower mornings. The late nights. The break from the normal routine. And then summer gets here and before we know it we’re talking about fall. Talking about August. Talking about everything that’s next. And if I’m honest, I don’t think I just do that with summer. I think I do that with life. How many things have I prayed for only to rush right past once they arrived? How many times have I asked God for something… waited for it… worried about it… longed for it… and then barely stopped long enough to enjoy it before moving on to the next thing I wanted? I wonder how many seasons I’ve spent wishing my way into another season. Wishing for summer. Wishing for the weekend. Wishing for things to speed up. Wishing for things to slow down. Wishing for what’s next. Always looking ahead. Rarely stopping long enough to notice where God has already been faithful. Maybe that’s one of the reasons gratitude matters so much. Not because it changes our circumstances. But because it pulls us back into the life we’re actually living. Back to the people in front of us. Back to today’s gifts. Back to the prayers God has already answered. Maybe you’re living in something right now that a past version of you begged God for. Maybe before this season passes too, it’s worth slowing down long enough to notice it.
