Reminders for Living

Look for God. He is Everywhere.

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Today you can listen to the poem, Reminders for Living, on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc). Over the next few months I’ll be releasing a handful of poems set to music. Make sure to follow Tanner Olson wherever you stream music.

Look for God. He is Everywhere.

There’s a kind of exhaustion that comes from living with open hands stretched toward everything you keep ignoring. I only know this because it’s how I have tried to live my life.

Why do I have such a hard time being still?

Why do I have such a difficult time believing that this life, the one already unfolding in front of me, is the adventure I’ve been looking for?

So often I forget that I am allowed to be right where I am

Not reaching toward another city, another season, another version of myself.

Just here with roots down and eyes open.

Something unexpected tends to happen in the stillness.

You start to see.

Daily bread keeps arriving.
Mercy comes with the sunrise.
Kindness sneaks in at the grocery store.
Hope refuses to leave.

Stillness changes our perspective and invites us to spend our time looking for God.

Maybe that’s why stillness feels so uncomfortable to me sometimes.

Because stillness removes the illusion that fulfillment is waiting somewhere else.

In another city.
Another task checked off the to-do list.
Another version of my life that I haven’t woken up in yet.

But the more I slow down, the more I realize how God is with me in the ordinary.

The poem “Reminders for Living” was born out of my tendency to rush past my own life while looking for something more meaningful.

But what if this is meaningful?

What if the life in front of us is already full of wonder, mercy, beauty, and the presence of God?

This poem became an invitation for me before it ever became one for anyone else.

An invitation to stop reaching so far ahead or believing I’m behind.

It has led me to stop treating rest like weakness and ordinary moments like obstacles between me and “real life.”

After all, real life is here.

In this Wednesday morning.
In the prayers whispered half awake before coffee.
In the people God has already placed around us.

Maybe the invitation is not to escape our lives, but to wake up to them, believing God is here.

These days, I’m trying to live what I write.
To slow down long enough to pay attention.
To look for God.

And to remember that this life, the one already unfolding in front of me, is a gift.

Reminders for Living

From my book, Getting Through What You’re Going Through

You cannot live every life you want to live.
You can live only the one precious life you have been given.
This gift is more than enough.
And once you realize that, then and only then can you live a deep adventure.

With this in mind, empty your hands and put down roots.
The temptation is to leave home and live everywhere,
but you can see the world without ripping up the soil you’ve been watering.

In this short life you are allowed to be right where you are supposed to be, so be all there.

Open your hands and ask God for daily bread and watch as He exceeds your every need.

Speak peace to every room you enter.
Hug a little bit longer and sing a little louder.
Grieve as deeply as you love and love as deeply as you grieve.

Keep trying and failing, but get back up and try again, this time softer.

Before you talk, listen and then wait.
This is a good way to pray too.
Be steady and faithful and dream beyond what you can see.
Leave fear far behind and cling to the goodness of mercy.
Always remember hope is not a trap and love is not a liar.

Take care of the earth and yourself and the people around you and let them take care of you.

You are not beyond help.
You are never beyond help.

Give grace, for you’ve been given an unending amount of it.
Trust you are loved regardless of what you do or what you have done.

Bless everything and everyone.
Look for God.
He is everywhere.

Grab a copy of Getting Through What You’re Going Through today. It’s a collection of poems, essays, and other hopeful words written to meet you where you are and gently guide you forward. Whether you’re navigating a difficult season or just need a reminder that you’re not alone, this book offers comfort, perspective, and a quiet sense of encouragement.

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