Feel good moments

I've had a couple "feel good" moments today, and it's not even 3pm yet. First, when I walked outside I saw the beauty of the sun coming through the trees and the shadows stretching across the lawn. While I am not a morning person by any means, something that needs to change if I am going to be milking cows in my future, but I absolutely love the feelings of early mornings outside. I really wish I had the discipline to just get out of bed and sit outside with a cup of coffee and some undisturbed time with Jesus. But there is something about the smell of the dew on the grass, the feeling of the night chill still hanging in the air, and the sight of the sun just coming up over the horizon that puts me in my happy place. Man, we are so blessed to live out here. 


How many of you have a small stack of wax burners that people gave you for Christmas but you have run out of rooms to plug them in? That seems to be the go-to gift these days. And of course every one that you get come with different scents, so you probably have about 4 dozen scents to choose from. Now I usually like the warm scents like apple, pumpkin and cinnamon. Things that overall smell like fall. This year when I got a wax burner I went through and smelled each one because that's what everyone does, right? And I was struck by something long scents forgotten. (I love puns) Honeysuckle Nectar. I finally cleaned out my wax burner today and melted something that smells like spring. Suddenly my mind was filled with memories and feelings from when I was a child. It made me think of my elementary school. It was a Lutheran school on the top of a hill, and the clearing between the church and the road was always covered with flowers that we used to play in. It reminded me of the feeling of my great-grand mothers house in Missouri. With homemade quilts on the couch and crochet dolls. I could almost feel the grass under my feet, as if it were a warm July evening and the lightning bugs were just coming out. It makes me happy that I have memories like that. I hope that when my children grow up and they hear an old John Denver song or smell fresh banana bread they will smile and think of home. 

What things make you think of happy times from your past? Is there a song that is special because a loved one always played it on the piano? Is there something your mother or grandmother used to cook that would infuse the house with a smell that you can't recreate? And what memories will your children look back at and smile?

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth by glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it;

let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy."

Psalm 96:11-12