After spending a beautiful summer with family in Florida, we recently returned home and settled back into our everyday routine.
Our time away was filled with family, laughter, good food and memories that we will cherish for years to come. Yet returning to our normal life reminded me of something equally important: there is so much beauty in the ordinary.
Walking through town. Enjoying familiar foods. Quiet evenings at home. Sitting together as a family. Returning to the little routines that have become such a natural part of our lives.
None of these things are particularly exciting, and perhaps that’s exactly the point.
We often look forward to the big moments in life; the holidays, celebrations, vacations and milestones. Those moments deserve to be enjoyed. But most of our lives aren’t lived in the extraordinary. They’re lived in the seemingly insignificant moments in between.
Over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate the relaxed rhythm of the life our family has built here. Returning after being away made me notice it again with fresh eyes.
There was no grand moment or sudden revelation. Just a simple sense of gratitude for the life God has blessed us with.
And perhaps that’s one of the greatest lessons of ordinary days: we don’t always need something exciting to happen in order to recognize that life is good.
Sometimes happiness looks like an adventure with the people you love.
And sometimes it simply looks like coming home, taking a walk through town, sitting down for dinner and realizing:
This is nice, too.