As the seasons shift, so am I—toward noticing more deeply.
This week got away from me—sick kids, stacks of office work, even a vet visit for my heart horse who’s suddenly reacting to something we can’t quite name. Inside it’s been coughs and Kleenex, outside it’s harvest dust and biting bugs. Some seasons just feel like there’s no good place to stand.
But last night, after sharing a meal, Scripture, and laughter with friends around a kitchen island and on comfy couches, I drove home with a different kind of thought.
Most mornings, I practice gratitude. I name my list: coffee, kids, morning light. And those things matter. But lately, the practice has felt a little flat — because it keeps circling back to what pleases me.
What if, instead, I looked for where God is moving?
Not just what I find pleasing, but what pleases Him.
Like: I can thank Him not only for keeping me well, but because that wellness let me show up to love others, to open His Word, to notice His presence among us.
It’s a small shift, but it feels more like the heart of those Old Testament markers — the stones set up to remember, the feasts created to remind the people of what He had done. It feels like the Israelites in the desert, fixing their eyes on the pillar of cloud and fire. They had to notice where He was, what He was doing, and stay close.
Aren’t we all wandering our own deserts in some way? Always waiting for the place we can’t yet see. And in the waiting, what we need most isn’t another list of small pleasures — it’s eyes trained to find Him.
Because if we don’t look, we’ll miss Him.
And if we miss Him, we miss everything.
May your eyes be trained to see Him — in the middle of laundry piles, office work, sick days, and even dust and biting bugs. He is here. Always.
And maybe that’s the practice we need in these desert seasons: not just naming what pleases us, but noticing where He is moving.
Where do you see Him today?