Recently I attended an art community day at my church. I had really hustled to get there on time that morning, and as we listened to some worship music, I found myself letting go of the tension I was carrying. But what I wasn’t expecting was that I began to feel very emotional and tearful instead.

I had decided I was just going to keep this to myself, but God had other ideas.

Our group all returned to our seats after the worship time, and we read Psalm 16 together. We were invited to share a verse and pray about what God was speaking to us through this psalm.

God highlighted verse 6 to me:

“The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance.” (NLT)

The verse felt like a splinter, painfully highlighting the contrast with how I really felt about my life.

I was fed up with life just feeling so hard all the time, always trying to hustle to keep going, to get well, to get to the life I thought I’d have, and not the one I’ve already got.

I have been striving to get to ‘the pleasant land’, whilst here God was telling me that the land I’m in is already ‘the pleasant land’.

I had a choice to make. I could either just lock up and suppress my emotions, or I could be vulnerable and share what was going on in my heart.

And actually, it was a relief to open up and just be honest. I felt calm come as I weepily shared and was graciously heard and loved in return.

For the next part of the day, we were free to make our own pictures. I randomly selected a hot air balloon wallpaper and cut out some hot air balloons, then made a simple rainbow background and added the Scripture God had spoken to me through.

At the time, I didn’t really give much thought to what I was doing; it just felt right.

I (badly) drew a female figure in one of the balloons, looking out into the sky and at the land beneath.

Creating that picture helped me to realise that what was going on in me was a battle of perspectives.

I had been looking at my life in a way that focused purely on the negative — what I was dissatisfied with and what I didn’t have. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I was unable to appreciate the good things I do have because I felt like this wasn’t the life I would have chosen or planned for myself.

But actually, there is good in my life, and I can choose to taste the sweetness of it even when things feel hard and difficult.

I can focus on what is good and beautiful and be truly grateful for those things. The hard and negative does not need to be the focus of my life. I can choose to shift my perspective, and the practice of gratitude has been helping me to do that.

I felt God’s invitation through that Scripture to actually recognise and appreciate all that is good and pleasant in my life. It felt like He was calling me out, challenging me to actually see and appreciate the good instead of ignoring it.

I’ve been reading a book called This Is the Main Event by Joshua Luke Smith, and I love this quote from it:

“True spiritual abundance is wanting what I already have.”

I am just realising that always longing for better, more and different is robbing me of enjoying where I’m at right now.

There is a pleasant land before me to rest in and enjoy if only I would give myself permission to do so instead of trying to get somewhere else.

My life may not be where I thought it would be, but there is still so much good here.

I have felt like certain parts of my life had to change in order for me to have an enjoyable, happy life. But what if that’s not true?

What if I could find the life I’m looking for in the life I’ve already got?

What if the pleasant land really is the land I’m already in, where God has placed me in the life He’s already given me?

But it’s up to me to choose whether I see it that way and to appreciate what He has given me.

Maybe you’re going through something really tough, and you just don’t feel any possibility that this could be the pleasant land God wants you to have. And you may be right.

This is just what God has said to me, and it may not be the right word for you today. But I’d encourage you to think about some things you can be grateful for — any glimmers of God’s goodness that you can see despite the darkness of your season.

Gratitude activation

Take a moment to imagine yourself in that hot air balloon, looking down at your own life from above.

Ask yourself:

What good things has God already given me that I’ve been overlooking?

What is there in my life that I can enjoy and appreciate today, even if there are still things I’m waiting and hoping will change?

Take a moment to notice those things. You don’t have to pretend that the difficult things aren’t difficult. Just allow yourself to see the good alongside them.