09/19/2025
🥀Finding Meaning in the Big + Small Things 🥀
In a world that can feel heavy and uncertain, it’s easy to miss the sacred beauty hidden in the ordinary. Trauma, stress, and grief can pull us into survival mode—making it hard to notice what is life-giving and meaningful.
Author Steve Cuss, in his book The Expectation Gap, offers a powerful practice called a Life-Giving List: writing down the people, places, and activities that bring you joy, peace, and a sense of safety. What I love most is that it includes both big and small things, ranging from no-cost moments (a quiet prayer walk, coffee with a friend) to larger investments (a retreat, travel, or learning something new).
🌹Why this matters:
• It gently shifts our focus from what we’ve lost or can’t control to what nourishes our soul.
• It reminds us that God delights in us experiencing goodness—even in a broken world.
• It creates anchors of meaning, joy, and hope when life feels overwhelming.
Psalm 16:11 reminds us: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy.”
🌹An invitation: Today, begin your own Life-Giving List. Write down the things, big or small, that help you sense God’s nearness and restore your soul. This might be:
• Sitting in the sunlight for five minutes
• Listening to worship music that calms your nervous system
• A text exchange with someone who truly sees you
• Time in nature, breathing deeply
Your list is a tool of grace—something you can return to again and again when you need to remember that life is more than pain. Meaning is found in both the simple and the profound.
🥀. Friend, you are worthy of joy, safety, and goodness. In Christ, you are loved in the midst of the brokenness, and you are invited to receive life in all its forms.
•At the entrance of Suite B, this new installation—a vintage door, trellis, and roses—stands as a quiet reminder of God’s nearness, healing, and grace.
