Welcome! Just a quick little intro so we can be friends faster before we dive in…

My name is Tara. (Most people call me T.) I am the author of Finding Everyday Fruit and Waiting On Wonders, and a contributing author to the 30-Day Devotional, Chosen. I couldn’t be happier that you’ve chosen to read what I’m putting into the world. I pour out my words here every week, and if you enjoy them, I’d love for you to leave a comment, restack/share with friends, or add a little heart to let me know it resonated with you.

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CRASH. It was 5:15 am. The sound of glass breaking cut through the darkness. The intense startle sent all my concussion symptoms into high gear: dizziness, ringing in my ears, and instant confusion.

I sat up in bed, knowing at that hour, my husband was already up, dressed, and preparing to be on his way out the door for work.

“ARE YOU OK!?” I shouted into the dark morning, too disoriented and dizzy to get out of bed.

”I’m fine.” My husband’s calm, unwaivering voice replied from downstairs. If you know him, you know he is characterized by this kind of composition. It is this same God-given-steadiness I’ve seen in him that has kept me on my literal feet this year. The hand to hold. The arm to support me. The one to catch me when I’ve been off balance.

Undisturbed, he walked into our room, where I began to hear him picking up glass pieces off the floor. A wedding picture we have in our bathroom, for some reason, had fallen off the wall and crashed on the tile floor, breaking the glass in the frame into a million tiny shards. After a few minutes, he went into our closet, pulled out my house shoes, and put them by the bathroom door.

”I tried to clean up as much as I could, and I got all the big pieces I could find, but I’m running late, and there are probably still some tiny ones left. Be careful. Don’t go in there without your house shoes.”

And then he walked over to the bed, kissed me on the head, and headed to work.

When I got up an hour later to assess the damage, there wasn’t much to clean up, and I was thrilled to see that somehow the wedding photograph had survived without damage. (When your wedding pictures were shot on real film and there are no digital backups or a way to reorder, this is really important.) It felt a lot like an ironic metaphor of our year: shattered, but not damaged.

It was a wild way to wake up, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the first calamity of the week. Just the morning before, as I walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet, I realized there was a large amount of standing water under the sink. Thankfully, it had been captured by a large bin that held cleaning supplies, but since it was pre-coffee hour, it all just felt too much. The disposal had given up, and water was everywhere. Before we could use the sink or the dishwasher at all, it had to be replaced.

I began to assess my body and symptoms. Could I handle this today? Yes. I was feeling semi-good, and so I chose the task at hand. I would need to brave the short drive through the neighborhood to Lowe’s (I’m still not driving over 5 miles from my home or over 35 mph) and navigate the process of walking in, finding the product, checking out, and driving home. (All of these things are overwhelming for someone with TBI. I can’t wait for when “a quick trip to the store” doesn’t cause such chaos in my little brain.) Then, I’d need to reinstall the disposal, put all the cleaning supplies back (why in the world do we have so many?), and THEN get on with the day. (Sidebar and for the sake of clarity: would my precious husband have done all of these things for me? Gladly. A thousand times over. But there are things I need to do daily that push me to feel “normal,” and today, it looked like taking care of what was broken on my own.)

I didn’t mind a little DIY (and if you’ve read Finding Everyday Fruit, you know I actually really love it), but I did mind that it seemed like the day was assaulting me even before breakfast.

Sometimes it just seems like that, you know?

So, on Monday, the disposal blew up. Tuesday, the picture flew off the wall. When I woke up on Wednesday, my first thought was, “I wonder what terrible thing is going to happen today that I’ll have to deal with.”

WHOA there, T. Banks!

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, thankfully, the muscle memory of scripture kicked in. The Lord reminded me to “take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). I told the Lord I was sorry for thinking that way and needed His help to shift my mindset, so that He could help me find joy in my day.

And then I felt He impressed this thought on my heart: ”You get what you look for.”

I am sure that if I had remained in that stinky mindset, I would have easily found chaos, frustration, or something “wrong” in my day, house, or life. However, by shifting to a “where can I find joy today?” mindset, it became much easier to find that fruit of the Spirit in the little things.

Friend, be sure:

If we’re looking for things to be angry about, we will find them.

If we’re looking for offense, we will find it.

If we’re looking for all the ways the world is going wrong, we will find it.

But if we’re looking for joy, we will find it.

If we’re looking for the ways the Lord is working, we will find them.

If we’re looking for the goodness of the Lord in our lives, we will find it.

Like the Sunday School song says, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see…”

It doesn’t mean that crazy, unexpected, terrible things won’t happen, but how we think and respond to those things matters. Yes, we can acknowledge that they are awful and mourn them if we need to, but pre-determining to look at life through the lens of our loving King Jesus, who ultimately has a plan for us that is good (Jeremiah 29:11), will shift how we see the world and our lives in it.

What are you looking for today?

I hope this little story reminds you that He always wants to teach you and point your heart toward His (even through stories about broken picture frames) and that His presence and the fruit of a Spirit-filled life are available to you if you’re willing to raise your awareness to them.

Where are you finding the fruit of His Spirit today? What everyday moment will you allow Him to use to share the wonder of His presence?

Much love,

-TLB

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