Wednesday, December 3, 2014

TIME WITH GOD AND ADVENT STRUGGLES (PROVERBS 3:5-6)

TIME WITH GOD AND ADVENT STRUGGLES

Written 2014-12-03 09:26:58, Wednesday

ADVENT STRUGGLES

Here it is the third day of December, Advent Day #3, and I have not read one Advent devotional. I have fallen into the traps I tend to repeatedly fall into of busyness and getting sidetracked. Sigh. (Father, forgive me.)

So, I start now. Again. I cannot control what I have done, or haven't done the last two days today, so I will control what I can: Today. My response to today is what I can control.

I have the following Advent readings I really would like to do each day:

1 Love God Greatly's online Advent/Christmas study (it is found here: http://www.lovegodgreatly.com/category/road-to-christmas/)

2 Ann Voskamp's "THE GREATEST GIFT"

3 Liz Curtis Higgs "THE WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS"

4 The Book of Matthew

5 My own

Not necessarily in that order, let me add.

I want to do what God wants me to do, when He wants me to do it, and to just be and meditate and pray the Word. I want to soak it all in as Christmas approaches. I do not want to read so much that I fail to grab hold of something specific God wants me to meditate on throughout the day and night. and, I do not want to be too busy to do so, like the last two days.

So, here is my thought as to what I'm going to do: Every hour, I will look at one of the 5 items I listed above, unless God gives me just one thing He wants me to stick with that day. Then, I will mediate on it, and pray on it, every hour at the very least.

From Love God Greatly's email today, this verse is what jumped out at me the most. This is where I will stay today. This is why Jesus came. To show me the Way.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Sunday, November 30, 2014

WINNER OF NANOWRIMO 2014

WINNER OF NANOWRIMO 2014

Well... I did it!

What a blessing.

It was for this book:

STORIES OF BLESSINGS ON NOVEMBER 30, 2014, PART 3

TOPICS IN THIS BLOG POST:

1 BLESSINGS THOUGHTS AND TIPS

2 MY NANOWRIMO WRITING PROGRESS

3 ANOTHER PERSONAL REFLECTION OF 2014 AND MY LIFE OF BLESSING

4 THE BLESSING OF NOW

5 SOME OF MY 2014 BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST

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1 BLESSINGS THOUGHTS AND TIPS

Beware of busyness. It will blind you to your blessings. It gets your focus off of what really matters, your blessings.

Slow down at least, but even better, be still. It increases your chances of seeing your blessings so you can count them.

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2 MY NANOWRIMO WRITING PROGRESS

Written 2014-11-30 15:08:10, Sunday

So far, I have 48,552 words of 50,000 due today by eleven o'clock this evening.

I have a Denver Broncos versus the Kansas City Chiefs Game to watch tonight, but it is the late game and I hope to get this writing goal accomplished well before that time. Then, during the game, I plan on counting my blessings and writing them on my Blessings Counted List in my Penzu online journal.

I still cannot believe I have written 10,552 words or so since yesterday morning for the National Novel Writing Month of November 2014. Granted, I am not writing a novel, but am writing a non-fiction, but it is still a writing challenge and I have accomplished more than I imagined. I thought it was a long shot, but now realize that I can do this.

I can and will win NaNoWriMo for the first time since 2010. (Yay! High five.)

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3 ANOTHER PERSONAL REFLECTION OF 2014 AND MY LIFE OF BLESSING

Written 2014-11-30 15:12:58, Sunday

I have come to realize this year how much I have taken for granted and have overlooked.

BUSYNESS

Busyness tends to drown out everything in its path and it sure diminishes our reception of blessings. We are far more likely to miss our blessings if we are busy than when we are still.

Nothing good has ever come from busyness.

Few things in this life require our immediate response. So, quite being so busy and stop rushing. You will live a better quality of life, and one with more meaning, because you will slow down enough to see the blessings in your life and then you can count them.

I tend to fall into the busyness trap. The year of 2014 is more proof of this. Ugh. I should know better. This was a lesson I learned long ago. How many times am I going to have to learn it? And, how many times am I going to have to learn it the hard way?

Busyness is like traveling in a car and looking out the window. the faster we travel, the less we are able to see. Everything grows fuzzy. It is the same with busyness and blessings (and counting our blessings). The busier we are, the more fuzzy our blessings become and are easy to overlook.

GETTING SIDETRACKED

The year 2014, much like the previous six years, were years which marked one quality in my life, one habit, I must break. It is getting sidetracked for the next exciting thing. Getting sidetracked keeps my eyes and focus off of my blessings and puts them on other things.

Getting sidetracked shows inability to finish something.

It shows a lack of commitment.

It shows a lack of discipline.

This keeps happening with working out, the way I eat, my writing, and my counting my blessings. It is a cycle I keep repeating. It is a lesson I keep learning, but it hasn't stuck.

How many books have I written?

How many blogs have I had?

What I keep forgetting is how if I am not satisfied with what I have now, I will never be satisfied with anything. Because what I have now is already mine. If I don't claim them, I can lose them. If I don't find satisfaction in what I have now, I will not, and should not, be trusted with anything more. It si the same with the blessings in my life.

What I keep forgetting is this:

Counting my blessings will keep me from getting busy and from getting sidetracked. It will give me discipline and will show my commitment. It will help me to be content with what I have now. Counting my blessings is the answer to all of these problems and dilemmas. Counting my blessings is the answer--period.

Counting my blessings helps me to focus on what really matters--not on the superfluous stuff. It helps me to appreciate what I have now.

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4 THE BLESSING OF NOW

Written 2014-11-30 15:33:33, Sunday

Now.

Now is what I have.

I do not have anything more or anything less.

Now is what I have.

Now is what I possess. It is mine.

Everything and everyone I have now are part of my life today. They are now. And, now is a blessing.

How is now a blessing? Re-read everything I just read. That is the answer.

If I do not see now as a blessing, then I do not have the capacity to appreciate anything else. For, the now is in my possession and is mine--now and int he present.

What do we teach children? They are to value and take care of their possessions. This is a lesson taught early.

So, why is it that we do not value and take care of our possession of now?

Why do we overlook the now?

Why do we take it for granted?

Why do we fill the now with so many meaningless and shallow things?

How is it we have gotten this so wrong?

How is it we want more? We think more is the answer. We do not stop and see how if we do not appreciate the now, then we cannot appreciate the more or the future. The now is what we already possess and if we do not have the skill to appreciate the now, we also do not have the skill set to appreciate the more or the future.

The now is how we can build our skill set of living a life of gratitude versus a life of ingratitude. The now is when we can learn to slow down and not be so busy. The now is where we can learn the discipline to not get sidetracked and finish what we start. The now is our greatest advantage.

In the now, we should survey all of the abundant blessings we have in our lives. This alone should be our priority. Counting our blessings forces us to live in the now and appreciate what brought us to this point and what we have in our lives and possession today.

Let us face it. Life can change as fast as a snap of our fingers. If we do not appreciate the now, and haven't fully lived in the now, then we are not fully equipped to handle what is to come. We do not have the skill set to do so.

So, develop your skill set of counting your blessings now so you can appreciate what you have now.

Count your blessings today. Appreciate your life as it is. Develop this skill. And, review your blessings from time to time so your blessings can multiply. and, count someone else's blessings and the blessings they bring your life.

Counting our blessings of the now prepares us to receive a multiplication of blessings in the future. if we do not collect the blessings of the now, our blessings will not multiply because we overlook them or take them for granted.

Count your blessings of the now. It is sacred.

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5 SOME OF MY 2014 BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST

Written 2014-11-30 15:46:24, Sunday

Every year is a year of blessing. I may have missed the blessings or may have overlooked them, but it still does not change the fact that every year is a year of blessing. The year 2014 is no exception.

While it has been a tough year, it has been one of blessing.

I cannot believe all of the lessons I have learned this year. Many have been through the storms and challenges of life, but many have also been because I kept my eyes open at times and searched for the blessings to count.

I am thankful for answers.

I am thankful for events that have stretched me, challenged me, and forced me to look at things differently and make choices I never in my life would have thought I would have to make.

I am grateful for the feral cat who adopted my husband and I. Lady Kara has been a true blessing.

I am thankful, or so grateful, for my deeper commitment to journal (prayer journal) and keep every journaling entry in my online journal.

I am grateful for direction. What was once so foggy and murky has started to clear and my husband and I can see the journey we are to take.

I am grateful for learning, though it was the hard way, how critical it is to count my blessings, be a Blessings Counter, and live a life of gratitude instead a life of ingratitude.

I am blessed to learn that counting my blessings is a lifestyle and is a way of life.

I am blessed to count as many blessings as I have in November.

I am also blessed because I think I just wrote over 50,000 words and think I just won NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for my blog turned book: "STORIES OF BLESSING: A BOOK OF GRATITUDE AND THANKSGIVING."

Above all, I am blessed to have grown so much in my faith this year.

To the Blessings Giver be all glory, honor, and praise.

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STORIES OF BLESSINGS ON NOVEMBER 30, 2014, PART 3

TOPICS IN THIS BLOG POST:

1 MY NANWRIMO WRITING PROGRESS

2 END OF YEAR BLESSINGS COUNTED CHALLENGE

3 A BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST REVIEW

4 LEAVING A LEGACY

5 A GIFT OF BLESSING

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1 MY NANOWRIMO WRITING PROGRESS

Written 2014-11-30 14:25:34, Sunday

I am getting a little more written minute by minute and am sharing more thoughts on counting our blessings with you with every word I type. I have a total of 47,637 words out of 50,000 words (minimum) which are due today. (Phew.)

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Which life will you choose-- a life of gratitude or ingratitude?

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2 END OF YEAR BLESSINGS CHALLENGE

Written 2014-11-30 14:29:22, Sunday

AN END OF YEAR BLESSINGS CHALLENGE PROMPT

Today is November Thirtieth, which means we have thirty-one days to make sure we finish this year with a bang and finish 2014 well. Consequently, here is a question to ponder: How can you live the next month the best you can?

What can you do to live the best you can for the next month and make sure that you close the year of 2014 in the best way possible?

Counting as many blessings as possible over the next thirty-one days would be a grand endeavor and would ensure you live mindfully and search for your blessings, which you would then count, and would remember and recount.

The goal of the END OF YEAR BLESSINGS CHALLENGE is to count a minimum of thirty-four blessings per day, so we count one thousand blessings per month. Ideally, we would count a forty or more blessings per day. However, what about counting fifty instead? (Just a thought.)

Make sure to count today your blessings from 2014.

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How would you describe the year 2014? Be specific.List as many words to describe it as possible. From each word, you can find blessings to count. Do so. Count your blessings from 2014.

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3 A BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST REVIEW

Written 2014-11-30 14:38:54, Sunday

Every morning.

Every evening.

Every week.

Every month.

Every quarter.

Every year.

Every other year.

Every half decade.

Every decade.

That is how often we should review our Blessings Counted List and remember the blessings the Blessings Giver has given us. At least.

There is something very special and sacred about time, experience, and maturity. We tend to develop a deeper hindsight. As this happens, we learn how much more special our blessings were at the time, but we did not realize it or know it yet. We start to see a pattern of how the Blessings Giver has worked and is working in our lives. This is why it is so important to review out Blessings Counted List.

The more we count a blessing, the more it comes to mean to us and the more special it becomes. As we do so, it brings us closer to the Blessings Giver.

Also, as we review our Blessings Counted List, we then realize there were blessings at the time which we did not count and we are able to add it to our latest Blessings Counted List.

Then, the blessings we repeat bring forth even more blessing.

I cannot explain it, but it always happens. A blessing multiplies. It is not an one-time only preposition. A blessing continues to give for the rest of our lives.

So, let us remember what the Blessings Giver has done.

Psalm 77:11-12 New Living Translation (NLT)

11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
12 They are constantly in my thoughts.
I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Let us remember and review our blessings constantly and continually. Let us think on them and appreciate them for the rest of our lives--not just once.

Again, blessings multiply.

So, do not miss a blessing. Do not overlook one. And, do not forget one. Review your blessings over and over. Then, you will have blessing on top of blessing.

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Blessings multiply.

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4 LEAVING A LEGACY

There is no greater legacy you could ever leave than counting your blessings.

Share your Blessings Counted List with those closest to you.

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5 A GIFT OF BLESSING

Make a list of every person in your life.

What are the five or so of the people closest to you?

Can you imagine the following?

For the next year, keep a Blessings Counted List for them, even if they keep one already. Write down every blessing they are given.

Also, write down every way they bless you over the next year in the same Blessings Counted List.

Then, for their birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or anniversary, give them the Blessings Counted List you kept for them.

The truth of the matter is, I cannot think of any gift that would be more special and meaningful than that. Can you?

So, count your blessings. But, also count the blessings of others. I call this stealing a blessing, and I mean that in the best way possible. every time you see and count someone else's blessings, you will be blessed. for, what do blessings do? They multiply.

Give each of the people their Blessings Counted List and I guarantee they have never received a gift with more meaning.

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STORIES OF BLESSINGS ON NOVEMBER 30, 2014, PART 2

TOPICS IN THIS BLOG POST:

1 NANOWRIMO AND MY WRITING PROGRESS

2 I AM BACK

3 WHERE DO BLESSINGS COME FROM?

4 BLESSINGS AND THE BIBLE: COLOSSIANS 4:2 (NLT)

5 A LIFE OF GRATITUDE OR INGRATITUDE

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1 NANOWRIMO AND MY WRITING PROGRESS

Written 2014-11-30 09:23:20, Sunday

I am participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month of November 2014) this year and am trying to write a portion of my "STORIES OF BLESSING: A BOOK OF GRATITUDE AND THANKSGIVING, VOL. 1" as part of the writing challenge. Hence, the writing challenge for me has become a blessings challenge.

In order to win NaNoWriMo, I have to write 50,000 words.

I started this yesterday with 38,000 words and as of now, I have 46,315 words written. (Yay!)

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2 I AM BACK

Written 2014-11-30 13:08:41, Sunday

Okay. I am back. I just got back from lunch with a friend. Now, I need to get focused all the more on blessings. (It was a huge blessing seeing my friend and their little one.)

So, here we go.

Blessing... Stories of Blessing... Counting our blessings...

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3 WHERE DO BLESSINGS COME FROM?

Written 2014-11-30 13:24:05, Sunday

QUESTION

So, where do blessings come from?

I sit and let the question roll around in my head for a bit. And, as I think things through, I will write them and share them with you. So, these are just the thoughts of a fool.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

Everything has an origination. Blessings do not come from thing, by chance. Blessings have an origination. They come from something.

Wait. Blessings cannot come from a thing. A thing cannot offer gifts of favor. Only a someone can. Hence, there is a Blessings Giver.

I believe logic is a device used to think something through. Emotions cannot think anything through. Emotions are fickle and blow with the wind. They come and go. Logic is based on discovering fact and acknowledging the fact. Fact is fact. It is not what we hope would be, could be, or should be. Logic is based on fact; therefore, is truth.

Blessings have to come from somewhere. Again, somewhere does not have the ability to give or show favor. So, it only stands to reason that there is a Blessings Giver.

This is just my little humble opinion. Based on reason, logic, and fact.

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4 BLESSINGS AND THE BIBLE: COLOSSIANS 4:2 (NLT)

Written 2014-11-30 13:25:34, Sunday

THE BLESSINGS GIVER

I am a Christian and am a woman of prayer and blessings counting. I know the Blessings Giver. He is God. He is my Lord and Savior, Friend, Way, Truth, Life, Teacher, Father, and Rock. He is my sure foundation and strength.

I know blessings come from Him and from Him alone, not from self, not from things, not from activities, not from anyone but from Him. He is the Blessings Giver. He is the only who can show me true favor. He is the only one who can offer me heaven and eternal life and forgiveness for all of my mistakes and boneheaded moves.

I DO NOT DESERVE ONE BLESSING

Blessings are that much more special because I do not deserve one of them. Not one. As a matter of fact, I deserve death (Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23)--not blessing.

I have done absolutely nothing to deserve them, but He loves me enough, and is full of grace, so He shows me His favor, gives me mercy and grace, and shows me His glory with every blessing. With each blessing, He allows me to see Him.

BLESSING IS GRACE

Every blessing is grace given to me by God.

Every blessing is God speaking to me and showing Himself to me.

This is why I do not want to ever forget a blessing.

This is why I do not want to ever fail to see a blessing and miss a blessing.

This is why I do not want to ever take one blessing for granted or overlook one.

A BLESSING IS SACRED

A blessing is something given to me by the Blessings Giver, by God, not by sheer will or determination, not by accident, not from chaos, not because I deserve it (since I do not).

A blessing is given by God.

God is holy, holy, holy. So, a blessing is holy. It is set apart and is sacred.

To ever look at a blessing as something small, something not good enough, something not deserving of acknowledgment is show my absolute foolishness and ignorance. And, I do not want to be a fool or ignorant. A blessing is given to me by a sacred God. So, a blessing is sacred and deserves respect.

How do I show a blessing respect? It is by giving respect to the Blessing Giver. How this is done is through looking for each and every blessing, acknowledging them and counting them, putting them on my Blessings Counted List, remembering them, reviewing them, sharing them with others, and thanking the Blessings Giver for them. This is how a blessing is best lived. It is through acknowledging how important and sacred each blessing is.

A blessing is sacred. It is walking on sacred ground every time I receive a blessing and acknowledge where it comes from, giving thanks, and remembering it. This is a sacred act. It is a sacred act of worship of the Blessings Giver.

A blessing must be taken as sacred and treated as sacred--nothing less.

THE BIBLE AND THANKFULNESS

I have studied the Bible and what it says about blessings, thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude, etc. And, I have noticed how interrelated blessings (thanksgiving and gratitude), prayer, and praise are. Most verses that talk about one talk about the other.

For example:

Colossians 4:2 New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Prayer, focus, and thanksgiving go hand-in-hand and are commands give to us by God in His Word, the Holy Bible.

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5 A LIFE OF GRATITUDE OR INGRATITUDE

Written 2014-11-30 14:11:03, Sunday

There are only two ways to live: a life of gratitude or a life of ingratitude.

Seriously. If you are not thankful for what and who you have, then what are you? If you are not living with a heart of gratitude, then how are you living? You are then living a life of ingratitude.

It really is this simple.

I will not hesitate to admit that living a life of ingratitude is sure easy to do. It does not require any additional effort on my part. All I have to do is live.

Living a life of gratitude, counting my blessings, and being thankful requires work on my part. It requires discipline, focus, intentionality, and writing each blessing on the page. It is not something that comes easy. It also requires time. It requires all of me in order to live a life of gratitude.

Ingratitude is far easier to do and live. At face value. What we tend to forget or overlook is how the cost of ingratitude is steep. It costs us a great deal to not be grateful.

When we live a life of ingratitude, we always want more. What we have now is enver enough. So, we continually seek for more and are never satisfied when we get the more. We get the more and we only want more from there.

Livign a life of ingratitude means we are miserable and are always busy seeking more, wanting more, only to be left unsatisfied.

What kind of life do you want to live? You are living one or the other. So, are you living a life of gratitude or ingratitude?

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STORIES OF BLESSINGS ON NOVEMBER 30, 2014, PART 1

TOPICS IN THIS BLOG POST:

1 APOLOGIES (AND NANOWRIMO)

2 A NEW VISION AND PERSPECTIVE REGARDING THE BLESSINGS OF THE NOW

3 REMEMBERING OUR BLESSINGS

4 HOW TO KEEP A BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST

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APOLOGIES (AND NANOWRIMO)

Written 2014-11-30 08:31:12, Sunday

APOLOGIES

Let me begin by asking for your patience from yesterday and today as I did, and will do, multiple blog posts. I will cut it back to one per day Monday through Saturday after today.

The reason for the multiple posts yesterday and today is because I am giving my full attention to my writing of Stories of Blessing, counting my blessings, and coaching on how you can become a Blessings Counter, too, through keeping a Blessings Counted List. I have redoubled my effort to share with you stories of blessing and help you to share yours as well, even if it's just in your own private Blessings Counted List.

Living a life of counting our blessings means living a life of gratitude and thanksgiving, versus living a life in which we choose never to be satisfied and always wanting more. Living the more life means living for things and people, not a life of meaning. That is not a rewarding, fulfilling, or purposeful life. Whereas, living a life of blessing makes this life more than bearable, it makes life truly and deeply enjoyable.

I am writing, as a whole, to share these things with you and to help me get more of a blessing-focused vision and perspective.

NANOWRIMO (NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH)

But, I have written, and will write multiple blog posts yesterday and today for the National Novel Writing Month of November (NaNoWriMo or NaNo for short).

So far, I have 45,000 words of a minimum of 50,000 due by eleven this evening.

Yesterday, I started with 38,000 words and today I started with 44,500 words. I am confident I will win NaNoWriMo this year and it is all through Stories of Blessing.

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2 A NEW VISION AND PERSPECTIVE REGARDING THE BLESSINGS OF THE NOW

Blessings mean living a life of gratitude and thanksgiving for what you have now and not overlooking it or taking it for granted, as each are so easy to do. If we cannot appreciate what we have now, how can we ever appreciate anything different. What we have now is our greatest resource and strength, if only we would learn how to see now with different vision and perspective.

How can we see everything and everyone now as a blessing, and have a renewed vision to do so, believe it or not is through counting our blessings. The more we search for and count our blessings, the more blessings we will see. This will make our now, and our future and past, a blessing as well.

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3 REMEMBERING OUR BLESSINGS

Written 2014-11-30 08:42:48, Sunday

A lifestyle of counting blessings means appreciating life as you live it and not overlooking all of the good in the now, in the present. It is appreciating life to its fullest and not living a mediocre life. It is living a life of purpose.

Counting our blessings helps us to appreciate the little things as well as the big things, and everything in-between.

Counting our blessings is actually not about doing something. Rather, it is about living a life of being. Counting our blessings is about living a deeper, more meaningful, more purposeful life. It is about getting rid of shallow, easy, and petty living.

Living a life of gratitude, a life of blessing, is vastly different than the lifestyle of the world today. The world says more is better and best. However, have you noticed that once someone gets what is better and best, they still want more? It is a lifestyle that will never be fulfilled. It's a life of more, busyness, always trying to focus on self and the way we look and are perceived. We buy more, want more, seek more, get busier, trying to live a life of happiness and fulfillment, but never getting there.

Living a life of counting our blessings requires we go against the grain, against the world, and live a deeper life of meaning. It helps us to look around and see life for what it is, now, and not overlooking it. It's seeing how much we have to be grateful and is a life of stopping to overlook or take for granted what we have, and who we have today.

But, counting our blessings will only take us so far. We need to count them and remember the blessings we have counted. If we do not, then we take our blessings for granted and treat them like a one time gift.

The beauty about each blessing is it can be recounted over and over again and each time we count it, we are given joy.

When was the last time a bite of ice cream was able to offer you that?

When was your fancy new house able to offer you continual joy? There is something that always has to be fixed or something can always look better in your home.

When was the last time a video game brought you continual joy?

Nothing and no one in this life can bring you the deep joy, sense of meaning, and purpose than counting our blessings. And, we can keep experiencing the deep, meaning, and purpose of the same blessing each time we count it. Everything else in this life has a shelf-life or is short lived.

Therefore, it is critical we remember our blessings counted?

How do we remember our blessings counted? We keep a Blessings Counted List. That is how.

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4 HOW TO KEEP A BLESSINGS COUNTED LIST

Written 2014-11-30 08:38:19, Sunday and 2014-11-30 08:56:04

I have learned through my counting of blessings in the last thirteen months how keeping a Blessings Counted List is an art form. But, it is not what you are thinking.

It is important to figure out a way to help you count your blessings. Whether it's speaking them into an audio recorder, and then typing them out at the end of the day, or keeping a list like a grocery list on a pad of paper, or sending yourself an email of blessings, or keeping an online journal. Figure out what way helps increase the chances of you counting your blessings to begin with, but also motivates you to count even more when you are counting your blessings.

And, if what you are doing now, while counting your blessings, stops being so fruitful, then change how you do it until you find a new meaningful way to search for and count your blessings. It is really that simple. I will warn you, though, there are days it takes me changing it up all day long in order for me to count my blessings. So, you may experience the same thing from time to time.

The key is to go with it. Work with it. And, keep searching for and counting your blessings, particularly when you do not want to or feel it. When you feel this way, it is a lot like working out, that is when it is most important for you to do so, and if you do, it usually becomes a very productive day.

So, how do you keep a Blessings Counted List? The key is to work with what you prefer to do. How do you like most to write? Is it with paper and pen, making an audio recording, through sending an email, a blank document, or an online journal, for example? Whatever you prefer to do when you write, do that.

I will share my system, merely as an idea and to help stimulate your mind so you can figure out what would and would not work for you. You do not have to do what I do. Find what works for you. Experiment.

I use multiple platforms to count my blessings: my tablet, my cell, paper and pen, and audio recorder. I do whatever works best for me at the time. However, at the end of the day, I make sure to get it all saved over the Internet, on the Cloud, so my Blessings Counted List can never be lost and I can access it with any Internet capable device from anywhere in the world and at any time. I never want to lose a blessing and i never want to miss a blessing. This helps me to prevent both.

I use Penzu for my online journal and it is saved over the Internet. So, I will always have that journaling, my Blessings Counted Lists.

I also keep one Blessings Counted List per day, then, I combine it into a monthly list in a document, which I then email to myself so it is saved permanently. Then, I save my monthly lists into a quarterly document and then into a yearly document. This archival system helps me to find and review my blessings.

I cannot even begin to tell you how delightful it is to see multiple files of daily blessings, weekly blessings, monthly blessings, quarterly blessings, and yearly blessings. In time, I will also have a decades list and file list as well.

I do everything I can to help make it easier for me to count my blessings and to recount them again later.

The more blessings I count on the page, the better life becomes. After all, on a challenging day, I can go back and recount my blessings and see how blessed I really am overall, even though this moment might be one of storm. This makes it all worthwhile.

Also, I share my blessings with others in roder to help them to see the blessings in their lives. It is a way to coach people and help them to gain the vision to search for, find, and count their blessings.

How do you keep a Blessings Counted List? You experiment and figure out what works for you at the time. you know if it is working because you count your blessings goal and you then you are motivated and inspired to count a few more.

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