Most of us spend our lives waiting for the “big moments”—the answered prayer, the miracle, the retreat that changes everything, the mountaintop spiritual experience. Yet God often chooses a different strategy. Rather than shouting in the grand, He whispers in the tiny. Rather than appearing only in extraordinary events, He quietly reveals Himself in the ordinary.
The spiritual life is less like fireworks and more like sunlight. Fireworks dazzle for a moment; sunlight gently illuminates everything. Catholic tradition has long understood this truth. Grace does not simply arrive in dramatic conversions or profound mystical experiences, though it certainly can. For me, though, it more often quietly permeates everyday life when I have eyes to see and take a moment to pause and reflect.
This is what I call embracing the microjoys of each day.
A microjoy is not merely a pleasant feeling or a happy coincidence. It is a brief moment in which heaven seems to peek through the fabric of ordinary life and give me a smile. It might last only a few seconds: sunlight streaming through stained glass before Mass, the laughter of a child, the fragrance of freshly baked brownies, the unexpected hilarious text from a friend, the quiet stillness after receiving Holy Communion, or the sound of birds happily chirping, greeting me in the morning.
These moments are more than emotional pick-me-ups. They are gentle invitations from God to remember that He is near. He sees, hears, and loves me.
The Catechism teaches that God continually calls us through creation. Every beautiful thing has the capacity to lift our minds and hearts toward its Creator. The saints understood this well. St. Thérèse of Lisieux delighted in tiny flowers, seeing in them reminders of God’s personal love. St. Francis of Assisi praised God for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, birds, water, and even the wind because all creation proclaimed the goodness of its Maker. Their joy did not depend upon easy circumstances but upon cultivated attention to the little and the grand.
That may be the greatest obstacle facing modern Christians today—not a lack of blessings, but a lack of attention– a lack of noticing God’s wonderful fingerprints all around us.
Our lives are saturated with notifications, headlines, endless scrolling, and constant noise. We often move from one responsibility to another without ever truly inhabiting the present moment. Yet Scripture repeatedly calls us back to awareness. When Moses encounters the burning bush, God first says, “Take off your sandals.” In other words: Pay attention. Holy ground is right here beneath your feet.
Perhaps holy ground is beneath ours as well.
Blessed Framework
In my book, Living the Blessed Life: Seven Keys to Trusting God and Embracing Joy, I talk about how to be more present and receptive to these microjoys through the BLESSED framework:
- Beauty – look outward and upward towards God, seeing him in the beauty, truth, and goodness of his creation
- Laughter – embrace laughter and joy
- Encounter – encounter him through prayer, the study of Scripture, and the sacraments
- Song – rejoice in song from a heart overflowing with gratitude and praise
- Silence – sit in silence, fasting and detaching from the noise, business, and things of the world
- Engage – engage with family and community sharing God’s love with all we meet
- Distinct – live our distinct and holy life that we were created to live.
The family dinner table can become an altar of gratitude for engaging with those we love. Folding laundry can become an opportunity for encounter– to pray for those who will wear the clothes. Walking the dog can become a chance to admire the beauty of God’s artistic creation, leading our hearts upwards. Even washing dishes can remind us that Christ came “not to be served but to serve,” and takes on a whole new vibe when you add song–praise music– and laughter into the mix or offer it up in silence. This is how we live our distinct Catholic life.
These ordinary tasks are transformed not because they change, but because our heart and our focus change; we are living from a core of God-centeredness–doing all things as unto Him.
The sacraments teach us this pattern. God uses ordinary things—water, oil, bread, wine, human voices, and outstretched hands—to communicate extraordinary grace. Catholic spirituality trains us to recognize that God delights in working through the material world. Once we begin looking through this sacramental lens, our entire day becomes filled with opportunities to encounter Him–to embrace the microjoys He offers to us.
The practice is surprisingly simple. Pause several times throughout the day and ask, “Where is God inviting me to notice His love right now?” Resist the urge to rush past the answer. Savor it for a few moments. Offer a silent “Thank you, Lord.” And smile.
These tiny pauses gradually reshape the heart. They soften anxiety, interrupt discouragement, and remind us that Emmanuel—God with us—is not merely a Christmas title but a daily reality.
In the end, the happiest Christians are not necessarily those with the easiest lives. They are often the ones who have learned to recognize Christ’s quiet invitation to “Come and see” in ordinary places. The Kingdom of God does not wait only in tomorrow’s grand miracles. It is already breaking into today’s unnoticed moments.
Perhaps the next time you smile unexpectedly, breathe deeply, hear church bells, notice a butterfly, or experience a moment of unexpected joy or peace, don’t dismiss it as insignificant.
It may be one of God’s smallest—and most personal—love notes… a microjoy just waiting to be embraced.
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