Small Victories

Sometimes your heart is left a little raw and tender.  Maybe a situation didn't work out quite the way you wanted it to.  Maybe you've got so much you're dealing with and you're not sure how you got here to begin with.  Maybe someone decided they would rather not be there for you when you needed them the most.  Life is often busy taking up too much of you, sucking you dry, wearing you out, and leaving you empty.

I know that feeling.  I know the deep ache and I know how it makes you question almost everything you know to be true and right in your life.

I have felt the itching, the adrenaline, and the need to break free.  The pleading for things to be right again.

Or for once.  

You spend most of your early adult years trying to figure this out.  It feels wrong when you're almost 40 and still struggling to make sense of your life.  

Is this what a midlife crisis feels like? 
Or is it just me?

I think I spend a lot of time wanting my life to look a lot like the movies and my favorite books.  The big problems and fantastic rescues.  The incredible odds, the tearful victories.  These are the things we want to talk about--not our trips to Walmart and piled up laundry and sticky floors and overdue library books.  Those moments don't give us pretty pictures on our social media feeds.  They don't make people stand up and cheer.  

Real life is not fancy. 

Most likely, you're not going to win the lottery.  The Hallmark movies are just silly stories with happy endings.  Reality is smelly, sweaty, and exhausting and not impressive.  But, I've been reminded more than once recently that life is made up of the small blessings, victories, and gifts He gives us every single day.  We just have to adjust our vision. 

I know these things, but I need to make myself remember that Love is faithful, Love is kind.  He is faithful in the small things.  He is kind in the small things.  The day to day moments that swell your heart a little--that's the small stuff that builds in your heart if you'll just let it grow. 

Stop waiting for rescue, He's already won.