When we moved into our current home a little over a year ago, I was a bit apprehensive about having a house with a hallway. I've shared before that hallways, whether literal or figurative, aren't my favorite things. But as I've grown used to my new home and as I've walked down my new hallway countless times, I've begun to notice something totally unexpected:

I'm falling in love with my hallway.

Honestly? I can't believe that I'd ever even like a hallway, let alone love one. But as I walk through my hallway multiple times a day, I've come to realize some important things about it:

This hallway is almost...pretty. Instead of being a straight tunnel, this hallway has angles. It almost seems to have a bit of character as a result.
It's wide and brightly lit. I usually envision hallways to be dark and cramped, but mine is wide and well-lit. It actually feels inviting, something I didn't think a hallway could be.
It keeps all of the kids' bedrooms near ours - a big perk for someone who's often up at night with little ones.
It protects our master bedroom from some of the noise. Jon has had to go into work very early the past few days. The nice thing about it is that he gets to come home early, too, and he's usually ready for a nap. In our old house, our master bedroom opened up right off of the family room, making it almost impossible to sleep if the kids were awake. But this new layout means that our bedroom is fairly removed from the main activity hub, and that translates into better daytime rest for Jon.

As I find more and more benefits to this hallway, I find myself being thankful for it. And the more I think about it, the more parallels I see between physical hallways and life's hardships.

Perhaps hardships, like physical hallways, do have a beauty to them if we're willing to look for the loveliness. It makes me wonder what I've missed by not taking the time to savor hallways the way I do other times of life.
There can be bright spots even during the dark hours of a trial. While hallways may never have the ambiance of an airy living room, they can have their own form of light.
Hallways definitely help to refine me and grow my faith. They have a definite purpose and real benefits just as my literal hallway does.

These are things I should have realized long ago. After all, God tells us in His Word that He is making all things new, that He creates beauty from ashes, and that He will give us the oil of joy in place of our mourning. If He can do all of those things, He certainly can transform a hallway into a thing of beauty, too.

Can there be beauty in the hallway? Absolutely.

Your turn: What are you thankful for about your current hallway? What beauty have you missed in times past?