Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Vanilla is an orchid.
In much of the world where commercial vanilla is grown, the flowers are pollinated by hand because the plant is outside the range of its native pollinators. The pods are harvested months later and carefully cured before they develop the smell and flavor we call vanilla.
And then that entire chain ends with a bottle sitting next to my baking soda.
Most of the time, I treat it as completely unremarkable.
The vanilla has not become less astonishing. My attention has become efficient. It skips past whatever it already understands well enough to use.
One of the simplest gratitude practices I know is asking, “How did this get here?” Ask it about one thing in your kitchen today. Follow the story backward through people, weather, soil, time, skill, and transportation.
The ordinary world gets strange again very quickly when you ask a good question. #Vanilla #Wonder #GratitudePractice #OrdinaryMiracles #ChristianLiving #Creation #OverlapLife
Vanilla is an orchid.
In much of the world where commercial vanilla is grown, the flowers are pollinated by hand because the plant is outside the range of its native pollinators. The pods are harvested months later and carefully cured before they develop the smell and flavor we call vanilla.
And then that entire chain ends with a bottle sitting next to my baking soda.
Most of the time, I treat it as completely unremarkable.
The vanilla has not become less astonishing. My attention has become efficient. It skips past whatever it already understands well enough to use.
One of the simplest gratitude practices I know is asking, “How did this get here?” Ask it about one thing in your kitchen today. Follow the story backward through people, weather, soil, time, skill, and transportation.
The ordinary world gets strange again very quickly when you ask a good question. #Vanilla #Wonder #GratitudePractice #OrdinaryMiracles #ChristianLiving #Creation #OverlapLife
