bad

I Know You

Samantha Gratton

Painted Hills | Moving Peaces

I believe we all want to be known. We want our lives and our stories to matter. We want others to know us, to know the way we are.

I know you.

These are the words I gave my husband this morning, on this incredibly difficult day.

We want people to know our character and our motivation. Perhaps not every moment in life or all of the details, but we want to be known. We want others to know who we are at the core, regardless of the good or bad days to come. We want them to know what we are capable of and what we can be entrusted with. We want them to know our voice and the tone we set when we walk into a room.

At times, we want the victories and the defeats to be embraced, yet there are times when regardless of having an understanding of whatever situation is at hand, we simply need grace.

This is a hard day. A bad week. A trying season. 

I don’t plan to share the details or get into specifics. But I do want to know and be known. I am so grateful for the dear people in our life right now that know us, without needing to know everything. But even more so, I am glad to be known by the one who matters most.

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.”  – Psalm 139:1 

 

 

Good but Not Right

Good but Not Right

Samantha Gratton

Tulip Field | Moving Peaces

Good things–really crazy, incredible and amazing things–can be the wrong thing.

Isn’t that crazy? I just want to say yes to everything good. I want to cheer on my friends going after all the amazing things they are doing, and I want to inspire people to chase after dreams. But honestly, not all the good things are the right things. 

We might have impressive careers or intriguing hobbies or lofty goals that all fall under the “good” category. No matter who you meet, they might all say, “Wow, that’s awesome. Good for you!” But it still might not be the right thing. There might be a better thing out there. That good thing might be causing bad things in other areas. Or the good thing is distracting or deterring you from the right thing.

So we ask ourselves, again, for the millionth time, “Why are we doing this good thing?”

Maybe all of our reasons are completely justified. Perhaps on paper, everything adds up perfectly. And quite possibly, it is the right thing. But sometimes we hear a whisper that says otherwise. We see a glimpse of the wreckage that good thing might cause. There’s an eerie feeling that doesn’t make sense. You realize there’s a greater compromise at stake. Or you simply start looking ahead and see that it leads somewhere far from ideal.

Sometimes you just know when a good thing is not the right thing. You might not even understand it yourself, but over time you become confident. It’s not always easy to distinguish the right thing and even harder to say no to a good thing. Perhaps few will understand at the time, or you won’t be able to properly explain it.

Having the discernment between what’s good and what’s right is invaluable. Acting on it–that will change your life. 

Thursday Three

Samantha Gratton

The weather this week has been so incredibly awesome. We have less pollen flying around and the sun won’t quit shining. I love it.

1. A day is a day, full of goodness and imperfections, trials and triumphs. I’ve been thinking lately about days. Sure, sometimes we have really great days, and sometimes we have really rough days. But then there’s a ton of days that could really go either way. We have moments throughout the day that swing back and forth between good and bad. For the most part, each day is going to get a little mix of both. Instead of labeling it one way or the other though, I’ve decided to take it all in…but ultimately let the good win.

2. I wonder how many friendships are formed at Redbox. We had a weekend full of good food and movie marathons. We saw several great movies (About Time, Gravity and In A World…) and ended up waiting for a Redbox movie twice, both times forming fast friendships with someone else in line, joking about movies and relating on some level. We’ve all got something in common—we’re all just people trying to figure out this life. It’s fun to intersect with someone along the way and share one of life’s sweet moments.

3. You never know what people pick up on. We hosted another couch surfer last night, and she told us all about her upcoming trip across the country. Hearing about someone’s adventure makes me want to grab a camera and join them, but it was also interesting to hear what made her decide to stay with us. Her reasons were completely different from the last person who stayed with us, but it made me think a little about what we represent to people.