Pamper

Pamper

This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

“HEY, KRISTIN AND KENDRA, you guys have to try my slippers. They are amazing!” Laughing, I gently kicked my slippers off, launching one softly toward Kendra in the kitchen and one toward Kristin in the adjacent living room. “Feel that arch support? They don’t look like much, but my feet are in pampered bliss when I wear them!”

My enthusiasm over fuzzy footwear started a conversation about the other comfort objects we’d packed for the long weekend. We’d rented a nearby lake cabin for the three of us, giving us time and a beautiful space away from our day-to-day routines to focus on business strategy and planning for the upcoming year. Without intentionally talking about it, we’d each packed a few simple pleasures—slippers, well-worn loungewear, favorite snacks, a scented candle—small items that invoked a sense of cozy security to make our borrowed space feel like ours.

Once upon a time, I scoffed at the notion of pampering, perhaps because it seemed froufrou and extravagant, a wasteful overindulgence, but I’ve been rethinking that stance since hearing a sermon explaining that earth is a little taste of heaven and a little taste of hell, all wrapped together.

If life’s good things are a tiny foretaste of heaven, then why am I dismissing beautiful moments and comforting things as wasteful or unworthy? Instead, I’ve started embracing them, even calling them out as I encounter them, declaring Lizzie’s warm-from-the-oven cookies “a little taste of heaven” as chocolatey goodness explodes in my mouth, asking Jon which scented candle we should buy based on which has the most “heavenly” scent, or pausing a long moment to take in the fiery red and orange leaves on the maple just down the block.

Calling out glimpses of heaven on earth has given me permission to indulge in small and big moments of self-care, enjoying pampering (however you might define it for yourself) and returning refreshed, acknowledging God in the good things and rejoicing in the parts of life that are tastes of heaven.

Lord, thank you for glimpses of heaven on earth. May we embrace moments of pampering, comfort, and beauty for what they are, little pieces of heaven. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Pick one way to pamper yourself today.