On November 12, we celebrated Mitch’s birthday. I cut and pasted a homemade card complete with Dwight Schrute’s infamous “It is your birthday” line on the front. Mitch wrangled two 3-foot balloons spelling out his age and smiled as I snapped a photo to document the milestone. We hugged and laughed and thanked God for one more year of my sweet Mitchell Scott. 

Barely an hour later, I drove to work and contemplated the blessing of another year of life. It’s never promised. These thoughts milled through my mind as I started wondering why everyone on one lane of the highway had their hazards on. I sped up to pass them, only to realize I was zipping by a hearse at the front of the line.

Oof.

My stomach dropped. This celebratory day in our family was one of the hardest for another. 

Later that evening, we sat with dear friends in our church small group. Before long, the words “we’re pregnant” tumbled out of the grinning faces of a couple we love so fiercely. It was their first baby, the first of our friends in that group to get pregnant.

The grave contrast of my experiences that day profoundly struck me.

A new life. 
A newly 28-year-old life. 
An end of another life. 

And I’m one person in one corner of this big, wide world. I’m sure there were millions of joys and heartbreaks on that day that I’ll never have any way of knowing about. 

It hit me like a truck. The fragility of life. It’s powerful. It hit me how we take our days and the many blessings within them for granted so often. And in the process, we take the One who gives us life for granted, too. The One who not only gives us life but sustains it and pours out abundant blessings on us. 

This is why I take delight so seriously, why I want to celebrate every little thing, why I want to be loud with my gratitude. This life on Earth is not forever. Another year, another season, another day is never guaranteed. So I want to live the full life Jesus offers us in John 10:10. 

“The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy. I come that you may have abundant life.”

The enemy certainly will try to kill, steal, and destroy our lives. Jesus makes that pretty clear in the verse above. But the other thing He makes clear as day? He came so that we may have abundant life. Even in the face of sickness, hardship, and hurt, abundant life is always available to us through the blood of Christ. 

May we delight in God for every moment we get with loved ones, with our senses, with the awe and wonder of this life. 

May we look for the beauty in the mundane and have eyes to see the mundane as beautiful—as a luxurious treasure. 

May we never let a day pass without “I love you’s” and “thank you’s” and words of life. 

May we never take a day of this life for granted or think of it as random or coincidental.

May we take action; use our voice; use our gifts; use our hearts; use our faith; and use all He’s given us. May we go and do and delight while we can. 

Cheering you on always. xo