Finding the Sticker Moments

Hi friends! I hope you’ve had a great week! Mine was actually pretty good, so I count that as a win!

I am again sitting down at my iPad to get this written on a Saturday. Maybe one day I’ll be ahead of my self-set schedule. Maybe.

Today’s post is actually kind of something that kick started my whole journal process. It’s something I’ve mentioned in some of the first posts, but I haven’t based an entire post on it. And I think it deserves its own spotlight.

I want to talk about finding the sticker moments.

Most of us have heard variations of enjoying the little things, remembering the times that make even the smallest impact in our day, not letting the bad things ruin all the good that happened. That’s part of my idea of finding the sticker moments. Finding those moments in the day that stand out enough to have a sticker put down to remember them better.

Also, you may remember my gratitude journal post, that had a hand in this process for me as well. When I received that journal as a gift for house sitting, it came with these adorable stickers that I knew I wanted to be able to use. This was the start of my sticker obsession. But I couldn’t just use the stickers willy-nilly; there had to be a good reason for using them. I wasn’t going to put a sticker down just for the sake of a sticker because they were too cute and too meaningful not to have a true moment to put them down for.

So, I started making sure I thought about the moments in my day that I could use those stickers for. And you know what, I started finding small moments that meant more at the end of the day than I realized when they happened. And I started needing more stickers to keep up with the sticker moments I was finding.

Of course, once I started collecting stickers, it got a little out of control. Now, there are random stickers that do get used a little more freely than others because they aren’t those super important, meaningful ones. But you know what? Those stickers are creating their own sticker moments for me. Because placing a sticker is one of my favorite parts of my day. And the more stickers I get to use, the happier I am. There is something about it that is like a complete serotonin boost for me.

Oddly, I’m not placing as many pictures in this post because I just feel like I’m not supposed to. I feel like I’m supposed to use this as more of an encouragement post. And I hope I can do that feeling justice.

You may not like stickers (it’s okay, we can still be friends; more stickers for me!). Or you may not have any, or don’t want to go down that rabbit hole (I get it, believe me). Or maybe it’s really just not your thing. That’s completely fine.

But don’t let your lack of stickers be the reason you don’t find your sticker moments. Don’t bypass those little moments in your day that could make a difference for you. Don’t let those moments go without a second thought just because you don’t have stickers to place on a page like I do.

Look for those moments. Look for the moments that bring even the smallest glimmer of happiness or a positive moment to your day. Try and think about those things in the evening, or as you’re going to bed, or whenever you have a chance.

It’s hard, right? There are days that absolutely everything seems to have gone the worst direction possible. There are days that seem to be the worst in the book and nothing went the way you wanted. And there are days that you literally cannot see how there was a moment of happiness or joy.

But take a deep breath. Take a couple. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. The circumstances and situations are different, but we’ve all felt like the day could not have gone farther south than it did. That’s when we need to really search for those sticker moments. That is when we need that little bit of sunshine.

Did someone, even just one person, smile at you? Did your lunch taste really good? Did you hit at least one green light to or from work? Was the weather nice? Did you have a cup of coffee? Did your favorite song come on the radio? If any little thing that could have been a small moment of peace, happiness, or just a convenience happened, you had a sticker moment.

It might not have felt like it in the moment because you weren’t focused on it. That smile might have come after someone else berated you for something you had no control over. That lunch might have been taken at your desk to finish something you struggled with. Your mind might have been in all different directions and too full to notice that red light change to green just as you needed it to. You may have been hurrying from your car into work or the store or the house and you may not have taken the time to notice the truly beautiful weather. The coffee might be such a part of your routine that you don’t even consider it anymore; it’s just a habit that happens. Your favorite song may have been drowned out by thoughts of what you had to get done next.

But even if you don’t notice the sticker moments in that exact moment, try to think of them in your reflection at the end of the day. Try to think of something, anything, that might have been good in your day. It can be hard. Believe me, I know. I have stickers for those moments too, but I try to find the good ones. I try to find at least one thing that went well so that I can remember that good things happen.

Why do I find this so important? Is it just so I can place a sticker on a page in my journals and be done for the night? Nope. Sure, that is a great feeling. It really is. But that is not the main reason I look for the sticker moments. I look for the sticker moments because those moments are the ones that remind me that God is still in control and that He allows those good moments to break through the bad because He wants to show His love, mercy, and hope to us in the midst of the storm we’re facing.

When I am doing my journaling, and I find those sticker moments to write about and reflect on, it’s a reminder to thank God for giving me those moments during my day. A lot of times, I don’t think to thank Him when those good things happen. Mostly, because I find myself “too busy” to stop and think about it. But when I sit down to reflect, I am able to see those times that He gave me those moments of hope.

He was there through it all. He was still there even when the good moment wasn’t happening. But I’m so thankful for the little things that He does that reminds me that He cares about me so much that He does even the little things for me. Nothing is too small or too big for Him. And that means He is the reason for my sticker moments.

Let me tell you a little story about when I was in college. I commuted because I went to a school maybe thirty minutes from me. The whole way to school, every single morning, I would pray that I would get a parking spot in the lot that I preferred because it was closer than some of the others, and it was easiest to get out of when it was time to leave in the midst of chaos. I would literally pray for a good spot because I knew that there’s nothing too small to ask God for. And ya know what? Most days, I got in that lot. Sure, there were times it didn’t happen; but I thanked God anyway because He got me to school safely and I was still able to find another spot so I could go to class. But the days that I got the spot I wanted, I would absolutely sing His praises. I thanked Him out loud in my car every morning when I parked because for some reason, finding parking was a huge anxiety trigger for me. And it meant more to me to find that spot than people would ever realize. But God realized it. And if I was journaling then and using stickers then, I would have one hundred percent added that to each and every day because it was such a huge God moment, sticker moment, for me.

Even when times are really hard and you feel like the storm is too much to bear, that’s when it’s even more important to find those sticker moments. It’s easy to find those when things are good and you’re happy; but it’s hard to find those moments when you feel overwhelmed. The thing is, that’s when God wants us to lean on Him even more. We can’t get through life without Him; we can’t make it through the next minute without Him either. You just have to look for Him and those moments.

So, when things seem out of your control, it’s because they are. Craig Groeschel writes in his book Winning the War in Your Mind, “being in control is an illusion” and “I cannot control what has happened to me, and I cannot control what will happen to me” and “you can control how you perceive it.”

So, we can’t control those things around us. They’re going to happen whether we want them to or not most times. But we can control how we perceive it. And we can control how we look at those little moments around it. If we look at it all as bad and that it was the worst day ever, our mood is going to continuously be solemn. But if we look for those bright moments in the day, even the smallest things, it changes things. God changes things.

Look for your sticker moments, friends. Because when you find your sticker moments, you find where God showed off that He was working for your benefit.

As one of my favorite people has taught me, we can only see the puzzle piece we’re in and we can’t see how it fits in with the whole picture. But God can see the whole jigsaw puzzle. He can see the whole beautiful masterpiece. Look for the little things in your piece that will help you see the beauty God sees in your life. And one day, you just might be able to look back and see how He was in every single puzzle piece of your life, using every moment to shape your life into what He planned.

This post went differently than I anticipated when I started. Honestly, I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. But I’m glad I just kept going and writing the way I felt led. I think this is an important topic that I am still working on, and I hope by sharing it, you can find some encouragement.

Like I said, you don’t have to use stickers to mark those moments you need to reflect on to see the good and hope in your life. You can just sit down and reflect. You don’t even have to write them down, but I do know that can help a lot. Because I write it down as much as I can. And I will always encourage stickers, but they aren’t necessary. I know I can thank God for those little moments without putting a sticker next to it. But it helps me feel good; placing stickers is one of my sticker moments because it’s a bright spot in my day.

So, look for your sticker moments; even if you don’t call them that. And remember that God is the one in the details.