In English the other day we were discussing possible writing prompts to help us think of a good topic for our short stories. One of the prompts was, “what is the worst gift you’ve ever received?” Immediately I began to wrack my brain, thinking of presents I’ve received in the past. After a minute of thinking, I remembered one Christmas in particular; my aunt and uncle were there and excitedly handed me my present. I had visions of money and maybe even a fun book but instead...it was off brand mac and cheese. My stomach dropped but not wanting to appear rude, I put on a cheesy smile (pun intended) and thanked them for my present.

As I reflect on this story years later, I’m grateful that I got mac and cheese for Christmas. Sure it wasn’t at the top of my list but it became one of my favorite stories to tell, plus I mean it’s free mac and cheese any way you look at it. I think the mac and cheese story has also taught me a lot about what it means to recognize gifts in my own life, and to be thankful for them. That’s a lot to expect from mac and cheese, but just bear with me.

So often, I go through my day to like with a “meh” attitude. Someone will ask me how my day was and I’ll say it was fine because nothing extraordinary happened. I woke up, went to class, ate 3 meals somewhere in there, then went to bed. But as I go through and reflect on my day I forget about the fact that my roommate made me coffee or that I caught up with a friend between classes. Sure, those aren’t huge things but they are definitely significant.

More often than not, the little moments we share with others fall through the cracks because we’re so focused on big, life changing moments. We can easily remember the first time we went to prom, but forget about that one time we stayed up all night talking with our best friend. Both are great moments, but we more readily associate prom with a gift (for some of us anyways) but view spending time with our best friends as an everyday thing.

This is where I tie in the mac and cheese, you ready? When I received that mac and cheese, instead of shrugging it off as a weird present, I should have recognized it for what it was- a gift. My aunt and uncle picked out that mac and cheese with me in mind, as a sign of love and appreciation for me. The same is true about the seemingly mundane parts of my day. So many moments in my life are gifts, but I don’t have the eyes to recognize them as such. I get caught up in the lie that my life is just kind of blah, even though I’m surrounded by blessing after blessing. Sure big moments are great, but the little ones we shared with loved ones are better. So let’s take off our blinders and start seeing the mac and cheese moments in our own lives.