I’ve found in life that sometimes I get into stages where I am always searching. Searching for the next big event or revelation or anything that provides excitement and something to look forward to in the future. I spend too much time wasted on waiting for the mountaintop moments where everything seems to be going right, yet while I’m waiting, I lose sight of the present. I lose sight of all of the good that is happening in the valleys. The times in life where there is no excitement, though, can actually provide beauty that might just be constantly looked past.

Life won’t always be filled with great extraordinary adventures, so when something grand isn’t happening, maybe we all need to look a little closer at that which surrounds us. I spent six weeks this past summer in Paris. I have a heart for traveling, and the study abroad was a trip of a lifetime. I came back to the states to find myself wishing to be back in Europe having grand adventures. I began to lose sight of the good that was surrounding me in my everyday life, and instead, I never seemed content with where I was. I always wanted to be back on the mountaintop. I started only looking forward to the next big event all the while crossing off the days on my calendar that were filled with studying, classes, mandatory meetings and other events. In all of this, I lost sight of the now. I lost sight of all the goodness God was and is providing me in the present.

For instance, today was a day filled with classes, studying and stressing out about all of the work I had to complete in such little time. I wished for the weekend to come because of all of the fun activities that had been planned, yet looking back on my day, I saw a day filled with good friends and laughs about funny jokes told. A day filled with fellowship and community even in the midst of stress and homework. A beautiful fall day with perfect October weather for me to enjoy while running in the morning and walking to class in the afternoon. These are not to be taken for granted because they are such great gifts we can experience in our day-to-day lives. Instead of focusing on the future, I began to turn my focus on the beauty of the simple, and I felt content for that which God allowed me to witness for the day. Even in the monotonous, a little bit of beauty can go a long way. It can show the glory of God and the beauty of His creation.

So much can be taught in the little things of life that are so often overlooked and shadowed by the grand, yet the grand is fleeting. It comes and goes, and we are left with the memories made and the feelings it left. The little, however, fills our everyday lives and is what makes life so beautiful. Each moment we experience leads to the accumulation of the beauty of life reflecting God’s magnificence each step of the way.

Don’t just look for the mountaintops because when you do you will always miss the little beauties of life that fill the valleys. Focus on the now, and you might just find a content heart that can rest in the glory God shining through the monotony of life by filling each day with the little things that are incredibly beautiful.