Sometimes gratitude comes easily. Sometimes it doesn’t.

There are times I see the people and things I love and this great, bubbly feeling of ‘how-could-I-be-so-lucky’ springs up.

The coloring sky behind the maple trees just beyond my kitchen window. My loud but happy family. And an iced pumpkin cookie sitting before me. Everything is perfect, if only for this moment.

God is so good!

A different day — or even fifteen minutes later — I might have an unbidden mental shift.

Things aren’t as perfect as they seemed. Or they don’t seem as perfect as they are?

I lazily allow subtle thoughts of discontent to worm their way in. My critical eyes scan the dirty windows, outdated fixtures and heaps of toys or laundry or clutter.

But wait! Why don’t I stop the discouragement train right there? What if I choose just one thing to be happy for instead? Anyone can find one thing to be happy about.

For tonight, my one thing is my master bath houseplant. It’s always a bright spot on the window sill — alive and green and growing.

While I love puttering about my yard, houseplants kind of defy me. I’m not committed enough to them, apparently. But this plant cheerfully grows, heedless of my erratic watering schedule. It’s already doubled in size and shows no sign of slowing down yet.

So okay, the bathroom itself isn’t pretty. I’m not an orangey-oak wood, taupe-wall, brown-tile, metal-shelving fan. We haven’t got around to updating the bathroom yet.

But no matter. In a room mostly devoid of aesthetic appeal, this lone plant stands out. I love it. I can focus on that green plant and that’s really all I need for this moment.

The rest can fade into the background. Someday we’ll paint these walls. Someday we’ll put in new tile, new shelving, new trim. Eventually I’ll get the piles put away and the sink shiny-clean.

For today, though, there’s my snake plant.