I don’t know about you, but my human mind tends to overcomplicate things that often have no need for over-complication.

Here’s one example: I spent a large amount of time planning our son Graham’s first birthday party last year — eek, he will be 2 in June! — with the intent of making it a wonderful day for all those who attended, as well as for the birthday boy himself. I won’t go into the details, but just know that the new mom in me wanted it to be as close to perfect as I could get it — and I can share that it was a memorable day for our family.

As quickly as the high arrived during the celebration, a few hours later when I was cleaning up, the low sank in. I am embarrassed to admit these were some of the thoughts that went through my mind: “I wonder if everyone had a nice time. Was it fun enough? Maybe I should have had more food options? Perhaps we needed more seating so nobody had to stand? What if someone didn’t like the elephant theme?”

Rather than focus on the lovely celebration of Graham’s first year of life, I started to nit-pick.

The Lord spent significant time — who knows if the length of a day was truly 24 hours then or not — creating the world. He planned and perfected; He executed and engaged. And then He looked at His amazing accomplishment and simply saw “that it was good.” But not just good. On the sixth day, prior to His declaration of needing to rest — He said it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31; emphasis mine).

He didn’t question Himself about what He created; instead, He celebrated. He took a monumental experience — creating the universe! — and boiled it down to the oh-so-simple observation that “it was good.” It is the very definition of uncomplicated! If He can do that, why am I worrying about if I picked the right color balloons or had the best birthday cake flavors?

And so, as we are nearing our second birthday celebration for Graham, my goal is to do just that: realize that his party — and this life — is good. Whether your mantra is “It’s a good thing,” or “God is good all the time; all the time God is good,” or “It’s a good day to have a good day,” it all comes back to staying positive. You may not be planning a party like me, but perhaps you’re anxious about a big work project or approaching graduation. Maybe you have a large Church undertaking to complete or simply made it through another week (that’s an accomplishment, too).

The Lord said that we should have joy (2 Nephi 2:25) and take time to count our blessings (James 1:17). May you identify those “good” moments each day, relish in them, and give thanks for them, too. He sees your efforts (natural and spiritual) and I’m certain believes they are “very good.”

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.