I’ve been thinking a lot lately about blessings. About counting your blessings, not just the big, extraordinary ones, but the everyday gifts we sometimes overlook because they’ve become such a normal part of our lives.
I wonder how often we go through our days without realizing just how blessed we really are.
We wake up in the morning, put our feet on the floor, make a cup of coffee, and get on with our day. We complain about the weather, the laundry, the dishes in the sink, or the million little things that need our attention.
But here’s the thing.
We woke up. We were given another day on this earth.
And that, my friends, is a blessing all by itself.
The Blessings of Family and Love
When I think about the blessings in my life, my family is right at the top of the list.
I’ve been blessed with a wonderful husband, Lou. A man who has walked beside me through the good times, the difficult times, and everything in between. Someone to laugh with, grow older with, share a meal with, and simply enjoy life with.
I’ve been blessed to be a wife. And a mother to three beautiful children.
Think about that for a moment. Three lives that I was entrusted to love, nurture, teach, and watch grow into their own people. What an incredible gift motherhood has been.
And then there are my four siblings. The five of us share something that no one else ever really can. We grew up together, shared the same home, the same childhood memories, and so many experiences that helped shape who we are today. As we’ve gotten older, life has taken us in different directions, but I’m so grateful that we’re still connected and part of each other’s lives. There’s something comforting about having people who have known you your entire life, who remember where you came from because they were right there beside you. What a blessing it is that the five of us still have each other.
And then there are the dogs we’ve loved over the years. Those wonderful, goofy, loyal creatures who become such an important part of our families. They ask for so little and give us so much. Even the ones who are no longer with us have left their paw prints all over our hearts.
What blessings they have been!
The Gift of Friendship
I’ve also been thinking about friendship, especially the friends who have been part of my life since childhood.
Recently, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to reconnect with some of the friends I grew up with. We try to get together every few months, and I can’t tell you how much those gatherings mean to me.
There’s something so special about sitting around a table with people who knew you when you were young. People who remember the same places, the same stories, and sometimes the same ridiculous things you did decades ago!
We laugh. We reminisce. We catch up on our lives.
And for a little while, the years seem to disappear.
What a blessing to have those friendships come full circle. To have people from your past become part of your present again.
The Blessing of Simply Being Here
And then there’s our health.
This one is especially personal for me.
I have cancer. I’ve had surgeries. I’ve experienced some things I certainly never expected to face.
And while I wouldn’t wish those experiences on anyone, they have changed the way I look at life.
I have cancer in my story, but cancer isn’t my whole story. I’m still here.
I still get to wake up in the morning. I still get to enjoy my family, laugh with my husband, spend time with friends, and do the things I love.
I know there are people who didn’t get that opportunity today.
And I don’t ever want to forget what a gift it is to still be here.
Health is something we often take for granted until something happens to remind us just how precious it really is.
Counting Your Blessings in the Little Things
And oh, those little blessings!
The ability to see a beautiful sunrise. To smell coffee brewing in the morning. To hear the birds singing outside the window.
To smell something wonderful simmering on the stove.
To know how to cook, to prepare a meal for the people I love, and to gather around the table together.
The comfort of our home. A warm bed. Food in the refrigerator. A good conversation. A phone call from an old friend. The laughter of our children. A dog curled up nearby.
Even the simple ability to get out of bed, walk across the room, breathe deeply, and begin another day.
We call these little things.
But are they really little?
I don’t think so.
I think they’re some of the biggest blessings of all.
Learning to See What God Has Given Us
I believe God blesses us in ways we don’t always recognize.
Sometimes we’re so busy thinking about what we don’t have, what hasn’t gone right, or what we wish were different that we forget to appreciate what’s right in front of us.
And believe me, I’m just as guilty of that as anyone else.
Life isn’t perfect. Mine certainly hasn’t been. There have been disappointments, heartaches, health scares, and plenty of difficult days.
Being grateful doesn’t mean pretending those things don’t exist.
It means recognizing that even in the middle of life’s struggles, there is still goodness. Still love. Still beauty. Still something to be thankful for.
Sometimes the blessing isn’t that everything turned out exactly as we hoped.
Sometimes the blessing is simply that God gave us the strength to get through it.
And sometimes it’s realizing that what we already have is more than enough.
One More Day
So today, I’m counting my blessings.
My husband. My children. My family. My friends, both old and new. The dogs we’ve loved. The memories we’ve made.
My health, even with its challenges.
My faith.
My home. My kitchen. My ability to cook and share food with people I love.
My sight. My sense of smell. The beauty of the world around me.
And perhaps most importantly, another day on this beautiful earth.
Another chance to love someone, to laugh, to forgive, to pray, to make a difference, or simply to enjoy the life I’ve been given.
I don’t know how many more days God has planned for me. None of us do.
But I do know this.
I don’t want to be so busy living my life that I forget to be grateful for it.
So tonight, before you close your eyes, think about the blessings in your own life. Not just the big ones. Think about the ordinary things you might have overlooked today.
You may discover that your life is filled with more blessings than you ever imagined.
And tomorrow morning, when you open your eyes, remember to say two simple words.
Thank You.
Because you’ve been given another day.
And what a beautiful blessing that is.
