“When I started counting my blessings,
my whole life turned around.”
Willie Nelson

Good for Willie! He has found the key to happiness.

Counting your blessings makes everything better. It doesn’t take away the difficult times or make all the wrongs right. There are still tears and hurts and grief that come our way but they don’t drag us down into the bottomless pit of despair when we remember the blessings in life.

There are times when I let myself be dragged down and I sort of wallow in the mess of being miserable for awhile. But those times are fewer and less dramatic than they used to be and the reason is that I have learned to count my blessings.

In the beginning of my blessing counting days it was a bit hard to make a list of the good things in my life. I thought blessings were big things, things that were awesome and made me stop and say WOW! But I have learned a few things since then.

Blessings are big things like not being homeless or hungry, being healthy, having family and friends and pets to share life. Blessings are the wonders of nature; trees and flowers, squirrels and birds, clouds that make temporary paintings on the sky, soft rain, lightening and thunderstorms, the stars and moon that decorate the night.

Blessings are also the small things; waking up and remembering a dream, a morning walk, a warm shower and shampooing your hair, lotion that makes your skin feel soft, laughter, conversation, the feel and smell of freshly washed sheets, an afternoon snack of coffee and cookies, reading a good book, watching a movie, sitting quietly by yourself or with someone you love. The list is endless.

Some situations and circumstances try to hide blessings. Sometimes we have to sort through the messiness of life to see or recognize them and there are some that don’t seem like blessings at all but with time they are revealed as some of the wonders of life. Ya just gotta have faith…and a lot of patience!