Tender Mercies

"The Lord's tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ."

--Elder David A. Bednar

Life is hard.  It can be disappointing.  And it can be lonely.

And also at the same time it can be too full, and overwhelming.

And stress-filled.

Like all day.

Every day.  

But,

It is also undeniably FULL of those tender mercies.

Even for someone with quirky tastes 

and a weird sense of humor like me.

For example,

here are a few tender mercies I have enjoyed recently;

a haircut where my bangs weren't cut too short

glittery nail polish

royal babies

a random shuffle playing Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas"

hippie institute teachers who sometimes dress to match their lessons

discovering my friend and I have similar perspectives on life currently

unexpected kind words from my students' parents

the witty one-liners my students can't help but come up with,

ALL THE TIME,

that make me chuckle out loud

just  enough laundry detergent for all my clothes

Costa Vida quesadillas

the fact that my sister loves Costa Vida as much as I do

having my sister as my roomie

having my sister there all the time to talk about boys...

and such

mis-calculating this month's budget 10 times in a row,

and then because of the miscalculation, 

having an extra $60 left over after bills were paid

random calls from friends 

(which I'm exceptionally bad at returning if I miss them)

that come exactly  at the time I need them

to remind me of all the love I have right there with me all the time

invitations to come over for dinner

random hugs

uplifting, edifying, inspiring emails from my good dad

sweet voicemails, and Little Mermaid shirts from my mom

Barbara Streisand's impending Album

Also, the other night, I was home alone, and a little bummed that such was the situation, when someone came and knocked on my door.  They'd had a rough day, and simply needed to share that with someone, and were only over for 10 minutes, tops.  But when they left, they said "Thank you for being home."  

Uh, yeah, that was a tender mercy.

It knocked me off my feet.

#LifeIsGood

#FeelingLoved

#AndILoveYou