Things I Love (February 2025 Edition)

moving from restlessness to thankfulness

Every month, I write a Things I Love post. This is a little ritual I have that turns my heart from discontentment to gratitude. It is easy, in this broken world, to slip into fear or anxiety, regret or despair, grief that weighs heavy on your heart and soul. But all of these things are in another tense—the fear of the future, regrets of the past, getting stuck in a time warp of grief and sorrow… The life that is here now is the one that must be embraced with open arms. The day that is moving before us is the only one we can take hold of and truly inhabit. I find that looking around my days and noticing the small beauties moves me out of my restlessness and into a posture of thankfulness.

I usually make lists, but this week, I started a new way of scribbling these out in my journals with some little sketches. These pages make me so happy! One thing I love about it is that I can do it while I’m sitting at the kitchen table with my family. Unlike the pouring-out-my-heart kind of journaling where I need quiet and time, I can do this little by little. I don’t need a lot of brain space to think. I just make a doodle, label it, and move on. I also really like to draw with my kids, so this is a great starting point for an impromptu art time. This type of journaling is so easy, anyone can do it. Especially children, who have no inhibition about their drawing. (Even children who can’t write will love this prompt. Let them draw the pictures of things they love and have them tell you how to label them.) It is a great way to throw together a simple family art time, to make a record of the things that bring you joy in this season, and to move your heart in the direction of gratitude.

ps. I am drawing these in Paloma’s journal. Notice her adorable drawings in the lower right-hand corner… Another thing that makes me happy.

Sending hopes that when you look around your life, you will see so many things to love.

Mackenzie

ps. Want to journal with me? My 6-week video journaling course, Innermost Journaling: Mining the Depths of Your Sacred Everyday Life is available in my little Library of Sacred Everyday Resources. This is a thank-you gift for paid subscribers here and on Patreon, as your support changes my life and makes it possible for me to spend this time putting words out into the world.

From the Family Archive:

I can’t let Valentine’s Day slip away without throwing out a couple of love songs.

This is a love song that I wrote for Randy about 15 years ago. The first lines are:

When my hair is strands of pearl, and the light falls softly
On this well-worn face and hands, as I sip my morning tea
Will you be there? With silver hair and coffee?
My quiet prayer, that you will be there with me.

It is crazy that we are already getting to the silver hair and the well-worn face and hands… So grateful that God has answered this quiet prayer with such kindness, that we are still here together.

Also this, one of my favorite love songs that we used to play live at shows. We recorded this video on Valentine’s a few years ago. I love to hear Randy play the upright bass, and this song is so much fun to sing.

If you are still reading this, thank you for being here and celebrating this beautiful sacred everyday life with me!