it's a blessing thing

 For some 15 years now, I have been thinking about blessings.  It first started with an Oprah Winfrey show; she encouraged her listeners to get a journal and write down five things they are thankful for each day. On those days when it is particularly hard, write down "breath". I went out and bought a journal. Infant twins and a three-year-old kept me plenty busy in those days and offered their own blessings.  My entries were rather few and far between.


My first entry into that journal was on Wednesday, April 16, 1997.  "Phone call from (my sister-in-law). The tree they got from Dad's yard started blooming today. (My brother) said, "Ralph must be thinking of Jackie today." I cried." 


Off and on over the next 9 years, I used that journal to record day to day happenings. I look back now knowing what a blessing capturing those funny stories were. Those stories that I would have lost by now.  Mixed in were a few of my first poems.  


More recently, I fill a journal about every year. They are now filled mostly with poetry, some observations of day to day life, and articles I write for our church newsletter.

So, in a very indirect way, I found one of my biggest blessings by thinking about blessings. Realizing how very blessed I truly am keeps me writing, and grateful.