All the things.

As I sat in the passenger seat of our car, the sun’s rays pierced the windows and sweetly kissed my skin, gently reminding me of God’s grace and love.

In a moment of honesty, May is always a busy month for me. Even before I became a teacher, May was busy because of all the things that happened in the month. It seems like everyone in my family was born in May, and then when you factor in Mother’s Day, it seems like this month was created to fly by. Yet when you do add in the fact that I am a high school teacher and senior class advisor, the weight of this month and the busyness of my schedule intensify… thereby decreasing my rest and sanity (just a bit).

This past weekend King offered up a moment of reprieve by arranging a quick trip to New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont) for us, allowing us to enjoy local sights and sites, while also deepening and strengthening our relationship. In all fairness, our trip was planned long before a communication glitch between the two of us that would call for the strengthening of our relationship, yet it happened, and we are better because of it. Yet as I began crafting this message, I looked over at King and smiled with deep appreciation, love, and gratitude because he is truly a blessing from God, and I am grateful for him.
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Relationships are not easy! While the choice to love another person should be fairly easy, the idea of doing so selflessly is not. It is against our human nature to put another person’s needs above our own, yet to an extent, all relationships require selflessness. As I was telling my sweet niece on Friday, all relationships- whether it be familial, romantic, or platonic- require us to honestly state what we need from the other person AND be willing to listen and do what the other person needs for themselves. Whether these needs be boundaries, love, respect,  or the like, we have to be willing to do what that person needs…and be willing to leave if that person is unable to meet our needs. While our needs will vary with time, the fact that we have needs does not change, and effective communication helps us to make our needs known to the other person.

Driving back to Maryland yesterday, my mind wandered and processed all the things. I thought about the beauty of my weekend with King, sitting in awe of God’s blessings while also preparing for all of the events of the upcoming week. With rehearsals, graduation, ASL class, meetings, and another trip on Friday, can you imagine how exhausting it is to constantly have your mind running and processing information?!

Beloved, this post started as a way for me to express gratitude to God for all that He has done, you know, all the things. Somewhere along the line, it shifted into an ask from me to you, so here goes!

In all that you do, give God praise.
In all that you do, see God’s hand.
In all the things.

Be blessed.