The Roads We Never Expected

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

My Daily Musings-September 3rd, 2026

“Sometimes God leads you down a road you never would have chosen to grow something in you that you did not know you needed.”

I think most adults can agree that our lives didn’t exactly turn out the way we thought they would. I talked with my sister about this a while back. I told her that my life didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. I expected to be a mother, and that didn’t happen for me. But that doesn’t mean that I regret my life. I have a wonderful life with many great blessings I’m very thankful for. My sister agreed that her life also didn’t turn out the way she thought it would.

That’s why I love the idea that sometimes our Heavenly Father leads us down a road we didn’t expect so that we can have the experiences we need. We are here on this earth to learn and grow, and develop into the people our Heavenly Father wants us to become.

I try not to focus on the things I don’t have and be grateful for the beautiful life I do have. That’s why I write down my daily gratitude before I go to bed every night. It helps me focus on my blessings and be grateful instead of focusing on other things that aren’t important.

Has your life taken a different path than you expected? What have you learned from the journey?Have you ever looked back on an unexpected road in your life and realized that God was helping you grow through it?

A Hymn of Grateful Praise

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

Melodies & Musings

When English poet Folliott Pierpoint sat on a hilltop overlooking the countryside in 1864, the surrounding beauty inspired him to write a simple song of gratitude—one that still speaks to us today. That hymn is For the Beauty of the Earth.

The melody of this hymn is beautiful. But the words really help me be grateful for the many blessings I have in my life. I especially love the words to the first verse.

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

I have always loved the beauties of nature. Looking at the beautiful mountains in Northern Utah where I live fills my soul with gratitude. The beautiful blue skies and even some puffy white clouds help me be grateful. But what really fills my soul with gratitude is the love of my Heavenly Father who loved me before my birth. He loves me no matter what. He will love me with a perfect love I can’t even begin to imagine throughout eternity. He created this earth for me and for all of us to enjoy its beauty.

What is one small detail in nature or your daily life that made you pause and give thanks today? What is one line from a hymn that always fills your heart with gratitude?

Here’s a YouTube Short of me singing the first verse:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0Fy-2XZinaM

Protecting the Peace God Has Given Me

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

My Daily Musings-September 2nd, 2026

“Before anger takes another hour from you, ask: Will this matter tomorrow? Protect the peace God has given you today.”

I used to struggle with a bad temper. I would get angry and upset over the smallest things. I still do sometimes. I have realized over the past few years that it steals my peace to be upset over things that don’t really matter or will not matter tomorrow. Even if those things matter to me in the moment, I shouldn’t get upset or stress about things that won’t matter the next day.

That’s probably why this quote stuck out to me, because anger is something I have tried to overcome most of my adult life. I love that the quote tells us to “protect the peace God has given” us today. I firmly believe that our Heavenly Father wants us to love each other and to not get angry or upset over the little things that don’t really matter.

As I have tried to overcome my temper, multiple therapists have taught me not to stress over things I can’t control. For example, I can’t control what other people do. But I can control how I react to what other people do. This has been hard for me to learn, but as long as I am making progress most days, then I think that’s all I can do.

Have you ever found yourself getting upset over something that you realized later really wasn’t worth losing your peace over? What helps you protect your peace when you’re frustrated or angry?

The Bridge of Hope

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

My Daily Musings-September 1st, 2026

“Hope is the bridge between today and tomorrow.”

This is a simple yet profound quote. When I am having a hard day with my health, sometimes the only thing I can do is make it through that day. When I go to sleep after a hard day, I know that tomorrow could be better. Even if tomorrow isn’t any easier than the previous day was, I can still have hope for the future.

I feel like each new day brings me hope. Even when the burdens of my health struggles feel heavy every day, I can make it through each day because there is always hope for tomorrow.

That’s why I really like this bridge analogy. When we think of a bridge, it connects one piece of land to another, and most of the time there is water underneath the bridge. The bridge helps us get over the water to a new place. So if today is one side of the bridge, tomorrow is the other side, then the bridge would be the hope that carries us into the future. We can think of it as our problems today and then going to bed and not knowing what the future holds tomorrow, but we cross the bridge of hope to find out what is going to happen next in our lives.

We could think about Jesus as being the bridge that connects today to tomorrow. He is the hope that we need to make it through our day-to-day struggles. Because of that hope in Jesus, we can feel confident in crossing the bridge to tomorrow and not be afraid of what is beyond the bridge.

What does the “bridge of hope” look like in your life? What helps you keep moving forward when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring?

Choosing to Seek the Good

/ Christine Maynor / Leave a comment

Thank you for subscribing-may these words bring a quiet moment of peace and reflection to your day.

My Daily Musings-August 31st, 2026

“Happiness isn’t that hard to find, you know. It’s everywhere. It’s all around us. But it’s not something that happens to us. It’s something we seek. It’s something we pursue.” From The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh.

I really like this quote from that book. I firmly believe that if we look for the negatives in our lives then we will find them. The opposite is also true: that if we look for the positives in our lives then we will find them. We will find what we seek. If we spend our time discouraged and depressed about our lives all the time, then we won’t feel much hope to get out of those feelings.

If we have a good attitude and are happy about our lives, then we will find more happiness in others and in the world around us. We will be more grateful for the blessings we have in our lives, and those things will help us be happy.

I used to believe that people around me could make me upset or happy. I have realized over the last few years that, while I can’t control everything that happens around me, I can choose how I respond to it. If I create a happy and grateful life, then I will be happy and feel grateful for my blessings.

I realize that not every day is an easy day. I have days when I get in a bad mood or when my blessings seem far away. But when those days happen, I try to get myself out of my bad mood as soon as I can. I prefer to be happy and grateful for my blessings. I think most of us are like that.

What do you find yourself looking for most in your life: the negatives or the positives? What is one thing you can do today to seek happiness and gratitude?