For months now I have been trying to enjoy life a bit more. I have thrown numerous dance parties for my kids, eaten more ice cream, enjoyed playing Simon Says with my super creative 5 year old: “Simon says, act like a flower.” (what?!) Turns out I can be pretty creative, too: “Simon says, go potty!” (That was way too easy.)

But it’s hard to enjoy life all of the time. When dishes need to be done, again. And laundry needs to be washed, again. And the two year old pooped on the floor, again. And where is that smell coming from?!

How do I continue to find contentment – no, joy when life is mundane, repetitive, toilsome?

The answer, I think (as many have already discovered before me) is gratefulness.

I am grateful for the dishes I wash, because we have them. And we ate from them.

I am grateful for the clothes I put away, because we have them. And they’re clean.

I’m grateful for those smells – yes, even those nasty potty smells, because they are signs of life in my boys.

The hard work, it turns out, is a gift. It brings us the things we need. It keeps us grounded. It brings consistency in an unpredictable world. And when we stop to notice, it is evidence of life all around us.

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun. 

Ecclesiastes 8:15