*image photo credit kateausburn
“We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.”
― Neal A. Maxwell
― Neal A. Maxwell
Can I tell you a secret? I’ve tried to count my blessing. I’ve purchased beautiful journals and wonderful books, joined Twitter parties and blog challenges, downloaded apps and committed to an accountability partner. But I never stick with it very long. The minute the journal is hidden under a pile of laundry, or the accountability takes a break, or the chaos of life returns – I’m done. I stop looking, stop counting, stop writing it down.
This season of Thanksgiving, I want to do something differently. I don’t want to get excited to count my blessings or buy a new gratitude journal that will end up in a drawer before the New Year has started. I want to take my blessings and make them count – not leave them hidden away in an app or shortened to 140 characters with a creative hashtag. This year I want to make a conscious effort to do more with what God has given me, and to pay forward the ways in which others have poured into my life over the last 11 months.
I wrote these words for my post at Mothers of Daughters this month, compelled to find a way to take my grateful heart to the next level. I wrote and rewrote the post so many times in my head and on paper, struggling to share what my heart desired for my family without alienating anyone in the process.
That’s the hard part of this blogging work, isn’t it? To share what is honestly on our hearts in ways that invite, not exclude, to show that it’s never about telling someone else how to do it, but simply writing the words about the journey God has me on. The work He’s doing behind the scenes….that maybe you might relate? I’d love to know how you balance it – do you struggle with this?
And if you’ve time today to stop over at Mothers of Daughters to read the rest of my post, I would love to see you there 🙂
I wrote these words for my post at Mothers of Daughters this month, compelled to find a way to take my grateful heart to the next level. I wrote and rewrote the post so many times in my head and on paper, struggling to share what my heart desired for my family without alienating anyone in the process.
That’s the hard part of this blogging work, isn’t it? To share what is honestly on our hearts in ways that invite, not exclude, to show that it’s never about telling someone else how to do it, but simply writing the words about the journey God has me on. The work He’s doing behind the scenes….that maybe you might relate? I’d love to know how you balance it – do you struggle with this?
And if you’ve time today to stop over at Mothers of Daughters to read the rest of my post, I would love to see you there 🙂
Our pastor shared last Sunday that the reason the Dead Sea is “dead” is because everything flows in – but nothing can flow out. Goodness, that hit home and made me even more determined to find ways to pour out!
You & me both Paula!
You do an awful lot of that walking already, girl 😉
Loved your words over at Mothers of Daughters, friend. Thank you for the reminder to do some walking with all the talking I do. Blessings and hugs! 🙂
So good and so true. I need to be so much more intentional about this!
Crystal your words are encouraging and uplifting – such a gentle reminder to step out and put action behine the words we write, as well as the ones we read where He calls us to do, love, be, and walk. I’ve been where you are – where the blessings are poured out in the hard times – and I don’t want to forget to be a blessings back. To make the blessings to me count. Thank you!