There are so many rewarding moments in life…so many things we can look back on and know that a milestone was reached or a dream was realized. If we remember to, we can make sure that we hang on to the memories that matter and the blessings that we have been given. All too often we get so focused on the negative; we start complaining about how we are not where we thought we’d be, or we wish we had something someone else had. It’s our nature as humans to do this…the secret is that it’s a trap. When we focus on the trials or shortcomings in life we often completely overlook the good things and then those good things never make it into our memory files! Do we really want our memories plagued with dark frustration and feelings of jealousy or anger? Or do we want to remember the little things that helped us to get THROUGH those tough times? I think it is so important to intentionally notice the little things…the GOOD little things…in our lives.

So we take pictures of everything. All our adventures, all our son’s milestones, our families, and our big life events…we photograph them all. Not just so that we will have that picture to look at years from now and remember…but also just to take that time out to give that moment our time and our appreciation. We are thankful so many of those moments…our little boy Rhitten has seriously given us SOO MANY!! Everything about him is just so precious and sweet and it is truly amazing to have him along for this journey. Sure, we could focus on how hard it is to learn how to raise a little person…or how difficult it becomes to work from home and be photographers and have to take an energetic little goober everywhere we go, but we WON’T. We just NOTICE the incredible blessing that he is in so many little (and big!) ways that completely overwhelm those difficulties and we could NOT be happier!! Seriously.

The crazy side of this is that even the difficult things become blessings to followers of Christ! I know this sounds partial and biased, but it’s true…we serve a God who works ALL THINGS together for the good of those who LOVE Him and are called according to His purpose!! Since we do love Him and are called to His purpose and have given our lives to Him, we can rest assured that NOTHING can come against us that will not be used by Him towards our best interest! WOW!! Even if we do not see the result of our trials here on earth, we are promised that the glory that awaits far outweighs the momentary afflictions of this world.

That said…how could we let ourselves get bogged down with things that seem difficult? We literally have NOTHING to worry about, and so as often as we can remember to, we make sure we notice and appreciate all of the good that is given to us daily!