Little Traditions

This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

My husband and I have a standing dinner date with another couple. Every two months—or three, or four, depending on how busy we are—the four of us try a new restaurant. Sometimes it’s a casual patio, hot sun beaming down on an umbrella overhead. Other times, it’s a sophisticated location that gives me a reason to wear high heels. No matter the location, it’s always an enjoyable experience.

Throughout the year, I take note of restaurants mentioned in local magazines or news articles or by friends and keep a running list of new or noteworthy locations to try next.

It’s a simple tradition but one of my favorites. We rarely see our friends beyond these dinners—we don’t live in the same city, and our lives don’t overlap as often as they once did—but we love to pick up where we left off, catching up and enjoying delicious food together.

We often think of traditions as weighty rituals tied to holidays, but we can glean just as much joy from simpler, smaller practices throughout the year. For instance, at least once a year we visit a teddy-bear-themed park in Stillwater—a beautiful town about an hour away—and walk along the riverfront with our kids, usually with dripping ice-cream cones in hand. We regularly schedule “Daddy dates” or “Mom dates” so that each of our children can have special one-on-one time with my husband or me. We grow herbs on our deck every summer, build crackling bonfires in the fall, and have a checklist of holiday movies we watch in the lead-up to Christmas. These smaller pleasures bring joy to our days, providing seasonal rhythms and helping cultivate anticipation for every new season, every new day.

This is the day the Lord has made—how can we rejoice in it? When we start to find the smallest of reasons to be grateful, we can build meaning into our everyday life.

Kristin

Today’s Act of Gratitude

What simple traditions do you have in your life? How can cultivating small enjoyments add up to a life of gratitude?