The 13th Donut

There is a tradition in Louisiana called lagniappe. You walk into a bakery, order a dozen beignets or donuts, and the baker slips a 13th one into the bag. No charge. No announcement. Just a little extra, freely given.

That is actually where the word comes from — lagniappe. A small, unexpected gift. Something you did not earn and did not ask for. Something offered simply because the baker wanted to give it.

Here is the unfortunate truth for most of us humans, though. After you have received that 13th beignet enough times, you stop noticing it. You’re no longer grateful, and you only notice when it is missing.

Sadly, that has been me more often than I would like to admit. I have spent a lot of years waiting for an upgrade. The season when life finally settles. The breakthrough that feels like is always just a little farther. The version of things that finally feels like…enough.

And while I was focused on what I thought was missing, I walked right past a bag full of lagniappe without even looking inside.

A marriage that has lasted 33 years — not perfect (my fault), but present through things that would have broken a lot of couples. Children who have had every reason to keep score and instead choose to forgive and honor. Friends who know the real version of me and show up anyway. A faith that has taken some serious hits and somehow has not quit. Work that, on most days, still means something. A granddaughter who lights up when she sees me…usually, ha.

All undeserved gifts. All His grace. And none of it should go unnoticed.

David wrote that from a hard season, not a comfortable one. He was not surveying a life that had gone according to plan. He was choosing to see what was already there — and naming it out loud as a gift.

That is the discipline of which I constantly have to remind myself. Not token positivity. Not pretending hard things are not hard. But the deliberate, countercultural act of appreciating what is already in the bag before I run off chasing what is not.

That is part of what I’m calling, the Lagniappe Life. Not a destination. Not an upgrade waiting to happen. Just the discipline of awareness — and being grateful enough to say “Thank You!”

So here is a challenge for us today. Name one. Just one. One thing already in your life that qualifies as “a little extra.” Something you did not earn. Something the “Baker” just slipped in.

Thank Him for it. Write it down. And for extra credit, tell someone else.

For most of us, the good life we have been chasing is probably nearer than we think. We might be standing right in the middle of it.