Celebrating Finished Ice Cream Cones

Naming, noticing, and celebrating life

It was a simple Tuesday evening a couple months ago. My husband and I alternate months taking our kids out for one-on-one dates and this night was my time with our two-year-old daughter. We kept it simple and took our home-scooped ice cream cones outside to eat in the warmth of the early evening.

We sat there in our driveway eating, talking about the ice cream, and laughing at toddler hands getting covered in melting goodness. I obviously finished my cone first, and continued to try and keep as much of my daughter’s cone out of her hair as possible while she also finished.

When she was almost done with her ice cream. My daughter looked at me with the biggest smile and asked, “You finish your ice cream cone, Mommy?”

I smiled and answered the obvious, “Yes, baby, I did!”

She lit up in excitement, “Great job, Mommy! High five!”

We then high-fived in celebration.

May we live slow enough to high-five ourselves over finished ice cream cones.

Photo by Deak Adorjan on Unsplash

The celebrations of life often come in huge, milestone moments—the first birthday, words spoken, coming home from the NICU, meeting an IEP goal, graduating high school, a long-awaited promotion, the birthday, holiday, and the list could go on…

These are monumental moments to notice the presence of Love.

What if we lived slow enough to pause, point, and celebrate the smallest moments of life?

The moments that don’t seem internet-sharing worthy, monumental enough to journal about, or life-changing enough to mark. Our life is mostly lived in everyday moments of ordinary. There often seems to be nothing “special” about our days and we lay down at night wondering what we did that was worthwhile.

These are everyday moments to experience the presence of the Divine.

The Practice of the Presence of God is one of my most favorite books as it shares how Brother Lawrence lived a humble, everyday, holy live with God. He says,

We should commit ourselves unceasingly to this one goal: that everything we do be little acts of communion with God.

If how we live life to God is a prayer in all ways, then we can take a slower breath as we slow down and look for the Divine in all. We can point, name, and celebrate that which doesn’t feel like a milestone accomplished—but know it’s just as important in the eyes of Jesus.

What is Jesus inviting you to celebrate today?

I imagine the God of the universe looking down at our everyday lives smiling. He sees the moments that no one else does—the moments worth marking and celebrating with Him.

Bravely checking ourselves into the hospital for care.

Getting out of bed with a chronic illness.

The nonverbal child that learned to communicate a need.

Dinner that didn’t burn.

A new book arriving in the mail.

God’s unexpected provision.

A toddler sleeping their entire nap.

Being kind to yourself after a hard day.

Going through the box of your loved one’s items.

The presentation that went beautifully.

Drinking a hot cup of coffee.

Finishing ice cream cones.

May we remember today that God is celebrating with us and over us today.

May we be invited to more love for ourselves and others.

May we live with eyes open to see the celebrations around us.

May we hold kindness for ourselves if we don’t.

May we live our lives remembering all is prayer to God.

Substack always offers their writers the option to open up for paid subscriptions. I know many writers on this platform offer this to their subscribers, but for me, I hope to always keep what I offer here in this space free of charge. My husband and I serve in support-based missions work in diaspora ministry, specifically in refugee care. If you want to support my writing—you could give a one-time or recurring donation to our ministry and that would be a huge blessing.