Or maybe it was the urging of the Lord. Either way, with only thirty minutes to spare before my scribing event in Brentwood, TN, I had the sudden urge to visit the tree-lined field I could see through my hotel window.

Now, I find myself carefully stepping in the squishing grass, sodden from last night’s storm, praying that my formal shoes are waterproof. In front of me, a small, sunken stream twists through the soggy meadow. A gauzy curtain of mist hangs above the field, disappearing into the sunlit tops of the trees.

And in the sky, like a unexpected pearl, is a gibbous moon.

I had asked the Lord for visuals of his goodness to share with you. I should not be surprised to find it so readily waiting for me. In his act of creation, he declared all his handiwork good, so it is embedded in everything I encounter in the natural world.

And each example I find leads me back, like a stream, to the source. For God’s goodness is entwined with his love, as is shown in Psalm 145:9.

“The LORD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works…”

J.I. Packer, explains:

“The psalmist’s point is that, since God controls all that happens in His world, every meal, every pleasure, every possession, every bit of sun, every night’s sleep, every moment of health and safety, everything else that sustains and enriches life, is a divine gift.”

For years, I have trained myself to recognize those gifts. I kept a weekly log of the good I experienced across all my senses, tying it back to the Giver. Though I no longer write it down, Alison and I have a tradition to recount “What was good this week” on our drive to church on Sunday mornings. This leads us into prayer.

It’s an important spiritual exercise. Recounting the good ignites gratitude for God’s actions. But it shouldn’t stop there. Those gifts reveal the perfect, loving character of God. Contemplating that leads to praise.

Here's how Anselm (1033 - 1109) enthusiastically expresses this:

In short, if in all delectable things there are many and great delights, what and how great must be the delightsomeness of Him who created all delightsome things!

In the park, not everything is lovely. When I had entered, I noticed some unattractive culverts channeling the stream under the path. But looking back from a distance, the angle of the streaming sun transforms them into something visually delightful.

This is the way of God’s goodness. It changes the ordinary into the startling, the mundane into the wonderful, the familiar into an intentional gift from a loving Lord.

Experiencing that is worth the effort it takes to notice.

Even worth working a day with mud-fringed pants.

Father, you are a good and giving God. You surround us each day with good: tangible expressions of your love. Open our eyes to them. And our hearts to you.

Reader: what surprisingly good thing has God given to you in recent days?

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