50 Things I Know For Sure After 50 Years

With gratitude, a few observations from the half-century mark...

1. When in doubt, pause, praise, and pray.

2. Encouragement is always a good idea.

3. Three of the most wonderful words in the world to be able to say are, “That’s my daughter.” (And also, based on observation if not experience, “That’s my son.”)

4. Marrying a guy you picked up in church one Sunday morning can work out beautifully.

5. There’s no fan club like the mom fan club.

6. Faith usually grows the most when a lot of other things in life are the least.

7. There’s nothing quite like a friend who really knows you and likes you anyway.

8. Lemon is one of the best flavors ever that isn’t chocolate.

9. “Hosanna!” means “save now” and is a perfect one-word prayer.

10. Some brains think better when the body they’re attached to is moving.

11. When someone pays you a compliment, they are not looking for a discussion. Just say, “Thank you.” (Yes, mama.)

12. Clothesline-dried sheets are one of the best smells in the world.

13. In a lot of life areas, my job is the input, not the outcome.

14. The goal with any habit is to get to the place where it is not something I have to decide about every time.

15. I 100% agree with Laura on Little House on the Prairie: "Home is one of the nicest words there is."

16. Life is lived in the mix of joy and sorrow, dancing and mourning, weeping and laughing, doing and stopping, clarity and confusion, having and wanting.

17. Saying “I love you” to someone in their love language—especially when it’s not your native tongue—is in itself an act of love.

18. I can’t only do what I feel like doing and I can’t always do what I feel like doing.

19. Pretty much any vegetable is even better when it’s roasted.

20. Thankfulness activates peace.

21. In general, just do the one next good thing.

22. In baking, soda spreads and powder puffs.

23. Also in baking, you can always add time, but you can’t take it away. And recommended baking times are almost always way too long.

24. If you paint a wall or a room and have to talk yourself into liking the color, you don’t like it.

25. When clothes shopping, if you don’t love it in the store, you don’t love it enough to bring it home.

26. If you clean out a closet and give something away, the odds are maddeningly high that within the next 24 hours, that something will be the thing in the world you need most.

27. Forgiveness sets someone free. Namely, you.

28. Most days, scoring anything better than zero is a win. (Thanks, sister.)

29. Grandparents are some of God’s best inventions ever.

30. When I’ve got a destructive or distracting or discouraging track on a repeat loop in my brain, I can’t just tell myself, “Don’t think about that.” I don’t have the option of turning it off; there’s always a track running. I have to replace the old track with something new and better.

31. There are people who live to run...and then there are people who only run for their lives.

32. People aren’t usually expecting you to solve their problems; they just want someone safe who will listen while they unload.

33. Weird is the new wonderful.

34. God is God of the storm before the calm.

35. Introverts do not need to be fixed, healed, brought out of their shell, converted, or encouraged to cross over.

36. Chocolate is the answer. I don’t actually need there to be a question.

37. Moms do not sleep so much as they worry in a reclining position.

38. Looking forward to something is at least half the fun of it.

39. Love is a verb, a decision, a choice.

40. A mom is the heart of her home. This is both a weighty responsibility and a wondrous opportunity.

41. One of the greatest gifts we can give each other is to simply notice each other: our happiness, our hurts, our triumphs, our struggles.

42. Five of the most encouraging words to ever hear or speak are, “You’re not the only one.”

43. The following are homeschool classes I’m qualified to teach: 1)PE for SAGs (Students Against Gym); 2)Math 4 MOMs (Mothers Opposed to Math); 3)The Art & Science of Chocolate-Chip Cookies; 4)Their, They're, & There: None Of These Things Is Like the Other; 5)Apostrophes & Why You Probably Don't Need One

44. God likes us to come to Him hungry and thirsty and poor and weak because that's the best environment for Him to show us that He is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, our Treasure, and our Strength.

45. Our struggles do not have to define us. But they can refine us.

46. When you become a mom, you become a heart donor. From that moment on, a piece of your heart goes walking around outside your body. Which is why part of a mom's heart is always where her children are.

47. Fear is fed by what we don't know. Faith is fed by who we do know.

48. There's no better sound than one of your children laughing...unless it's the sound of all your children in the same room, laughing together.

49. I will not rue getting older; instead, I will remember it is a privilege not enjoyed by everyone.

50. At the end of the day—good days, bad days, any day, everyday—I want my people to be able to say, “I felt loved today.”