Make Blessings Count
Today I am grateful for a good training run yesterday . . . three hours of leg time, time with my hubby, and time with myself. I am also grateful for the countless blessings I receive each day.
The quote in my gratitude journal a few days ago said this:
"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count."
(Neil A. Maxwell)
As I read this quote and pondered it, I thought of the blessing writing has been in my life. I consider it to be a huge blessing. It saved me from self-destruction in my teens and twenties. It helped me first find a voice as a poet, and now expanding to an essayist, blogger, and columnist. Writing has helped me process painful emotions and challenging times, as well as helped me chronicle the details of joyous memories throughout my life. It has helped me become more vocal with what I have to say, via words.
I have journaled my life story for my entire adult life. I have been writing a journal to my son Sam since before I got pregnant. I have been journaling about gratitude for 18 years. Those have all been wonderful outlets for my writing energy. But I have also always wanted to send my words out to a wider audience. I dreamed of being a successful writer who could make a living at it. Life happened and my writing career didn't quite pan out like that (yet). But I am a writer and I fully appreciate that little steps mean a lot. I have tried poetry contests and greeting card submissions. I put a book together revolving around what I call "my drinking poems." Nothing much came to fruition.
Little did I know, the writer in me was just gathering steam. I really got on track when my friend Jenny and I wrote a book about our dual breast cancer diagnoses less than a month apart. (You can read more about that here.) The emerging essayist has really given me a voice and one place I can regularly share that is here on this blog. I so appreciate the faith that helped me take the leap into the blogosphere. It has made all the difference to me . . . as a writer and as someone who practices gratitude regularly.
The quote in my gratitude journal a few days ago said this:
"We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count."
(Neil A. Maxwell)
As I read this quote and pondered it, I thought of the blessing writing has been in my life. I consider it to be a huge blessing. It saved me from self-destruction in my teens and twenties. It helped me first find a voice as a poet, and now expanding to an essayist, blogger, and columnist. Writing has helped me process painful emotions and challenging times, as well as helped me chronicle the details of joyous memories throughout my life. It has helped me become more vocal with what I have to say, via words.
I have journaled my life story for my entire adult life. I have been writing a journal to my son Sam since before I got pregnant. I have been journaling about gratitude for 18 years. Those have all been wonderful outlets for my writing energy. But I have also always wanted to send my words out to a wider audience. I dreamed of being a successful writer who could make a living at it. Life happened and my writing career didn't quite pan out like that (yet). But I am a writer and I fully appreciate that little steps mean a lot. I have tried poetry contests and greeting card submissions. I put a book together revolving around what I call "my drinking poems." Nothing much came to fruition.
Little did I know, the writer in me was just gathering steam. I really got on track when my friend Jenny and I wrote a book about our dual breast cancer diagnoses less than a month apart. (You can read more about that here.) The emerging essayist has really given me a voice and one place I can regularly share that is here on this blog. I so appreciate the faith that helped me take the leap into the blogosphere. It has made all the difference to me . . . as a writer and as someone who practices gratitude regularly.
Your post made me smile. I am a fellow blogger and am always looking for similar threads to keep me charged. I did a search and yours came up. While reading through it I found myself saying "yes!". It feels so good when we know there are others looking to share goodness, to make the world a little bit brighter. Thank You!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting Maria! Sharing goodness and practicing gratitude go hand in hand. So many people are searching for more meaning in life and a less harried pace . . . it looks like both of our blogs are trying to help contribute to that effort. Onward!
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