Today is a public holiday in Australia, in honour of the reigning monarch’s birthday. It has been an outstanding day for me with a collection of ordinary moments that when bundled together means it has been truly blessed. My activities included a morning run, a cooked breakfast, a drive in the country, sitting in a tree, reading a book and painting my nails. Doesn’t sound earth shattering, I know, but during each activity I was reminded of the blessings God showers upon me that I don’t always acknowledge.

My morning started with me declaring I would go for a short run before breakfast. My husband offered to come with me, and straight away I recognise the blessing he is to me. You see, he runs much faster than I do and to come with me means that he needs to run at my pace, being mindful of me in every step. I offered a prayer of thanks for David, and set out on my run and once I was able to breathe again I said another prayer for the blessing of good health.

I decided to do a full cooked breakfast this morning for the family, and so enjoyed preparing bacon, eggs, bagels, beans, mushrooms and hash browns. The blessing I felt was as we were sitting at our outdoor table with a bountiful plate of food, my family members enjoying what I had prepared and with the beautiful sunshine on my face. How blessed to live in the location I do where food is plentiful and the weather lovely, even in Winter.

We all piled into the car and let our Learner Driver daughter take the wheel. This relegated me to the back seat where many prayers were offered as I’m an anxious passenger at the best of times. I was very proud of how well she did and how well she took instruction from supervising driver, David.

Our destination was the Perry Sandhills outside Wentworth NSW and it was fun to explore the large sand dunes with their windswept ripple surfaces. I wanted to head to a tree known as the ‘God Tree’. It is a giant gum tree that doesn’t look like so giant as over the years the sand has covered the 4-5metre trunk and what remains to be seen is the large tree canopy, but at ground height. This means that I can sit on the perfect branch and take a few moments to be in the midst of nature and thank God for the opportunity to take a breath.

Once home I chose to take my latest ‘reading for pleasure’ book out to my swing chair on the patio. I am working my way through Kerry Greenwood’s Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries. Not intellectually taxing, but I love her portrayal of a strong female lead character. I give thanks to God for the opportunities I am afforded because of strong women. I also ask for strength to carry on the legacy for the women that will come after me.

I took the opportunity to paint my fingernails a gorgeous dark purple colour and gave thanks to God for the blessing that is the beginning of 3 weeks annual leave. These things all happened before late afternoon and I know that the blessings are not yet done. All I need to do is be mindful of the things around me and who has brought them to my life. I pray you will be able to experience an amazing ordinary day too.

Be blessed.