Sometimes I love this life too much. I revel in her gifts, long for what I can’t have, grasp for what I’m losing, think real life and happiness are found in all the gifts rather than the Giver. Other times, I long for heaven so badly I think my heart might cave in. I see this life for what it is – a moment, a breath – and desire weaves her way up and out from deeper places than I even knew existed. And in those times, the earth fog lifts and it’s as if I know fully even as I am fully known. But the clarity doesn’t visit long, and just as I try to document it, the stuff of life and laundry come back down like a curtain, leaving me wondering how the mystery ever felt real at all.

We plow through the day, head down, eyes shut tight, hands busy, heart whirring, ears pounding with running lists and broken hearts and don’t forget the milk at the store. Our prayers are mostly talking and our hearts are mostly longing for something, anything other than this fast-paced life. And my job isn’t even one of those typically stressful ones like brain surgeon or president.

I consider the gifts hiding in secret but wide-open places. And when I do, He slows me and invites me into Himself. These gifts are not me, He says, but they are evidence of the mystery. What can I do but see them, pick them up, turn them over, and unwrap them? The grass is flattened in my front yard because they’re learning to play soccer. The washroom floor is covered in blankets because the whole family stayed with us. The desk is piled high with books and papers because I get to do the job I love.

This life is bursting with the mystery of God. Find the gifts that point to the Giver and be curious in your longing. Do not discount any season you might be in. Do not wave away that deep desire for more. Begin with the gifts at your feet and see where they take you.

We would love to read about your Tuesday gifts by inviting you to add your link below. Be sure to include the permalink to your Tuesday post. If you need help to link up, this page will hopefully answer all of your questions. Be sure to link back here to Chatting at the Sky so that others can find our community. I look so forward to reading your posts. Welcome back to Tuesday.

I cup my hands over the warm dough, brush flour from the top onto the cornmeal covered pizza peel. I made this dough with my own hands. When water and yeast meet flour and salt and time, they rise up together, mingling in the bowl so we can’t tell one from the other. They make a new thing.

When it’s time to put it in the oven, the heavy dough sits rounded on the stone. As it begins to move, I watch in wonder. Because I may have added these things together, but I can’t make them breathe. And the idea that I made this dough with my own hands turns laughable now. Really? Where do you keep your storehouses of water? Did you mine the rocks or capture the sea water to get that salt? I am Job and the bread questions turn to earth questions and I’m wondering how the proud waves know where to stop and who gives the sun his orders and where night ends and morning begins.

I mix the dough, not because I know things, but because I have faith in those who have done it already. I am a student of bread and of life. Busy makes me too big. Slow brings me down low. I need to stay low, small, thankful.

One of my favorite thankful practices we started here over two years ago. Tuesdays Unwrapped began as a project to see life on purpose, to look at what is and embrace it rather than wish it different. Tuesdays gave us permission to take the time to unwrap the small, secret gift of the everyday. It was a year ago that I stopped doing Tuesdays Unwrapped as a weekly link up. It was one of those things I had to say no to in order to say yes to other things. But I have missed it, the weekly practice of noticing with a community.

Beginning tomorrow, I would like to unwrap my tuesdays again with you from now until the end of the year. While dear Ann invites us to list one thousand gifts on Mondays, I invite you to unwrap them one by one on Tuesdays. For tomorrow, I hope you’ll choose one gift of your ordinary day and find the miracle secret it holds. Write it out, breathe it in, capture its image, see it new. And then come here to tell us all about it by linking up. If you are new to this community, here is all the information you’ll need to prepare your post. I hope to see you tomorrow.