Count your blessings

It's easy to tell yourself life will be great once this or that happens. Once my scans are clean, everything will fall into place for me once I get that raise. We're always chasing the next big thing and struggling with the "in-betweens." It's harder to smell the roses that grow in your garden when they're buried under mounds of emotional baggage and disappointment. We want everything to be pretty before we give thanks for it.

I do believe that in life, there are seasons, some full of bloom, like spring, and others bleak and colorless. Still, each brings their own unique lessons and opportunities to stop right there in the middle and realize what we have going for us. Maybe it's because I have a new understanding of just how short life is and how much of it we take for granted. I know that Blessings are everywhere, waiting for us to take notice on any given day. Finding out that you can reach for what's next without taking for granted what you have right now is where real fulfillment lives.

Take these words as your reminder that if you're in the middle of a cold life season and not feeling very blessed at the moment, you are always worth fighting for. Even when all that's left is the strength to get to the next season, that in itself is a blessing. A gold coin worth far more than its weight, redeemable for any number of courageous next moves.

Even on the worst day of my worst year, I don't have enough fingers to count all the beautiful things I have in my life. And if, God forbid, someday I have a lot less, I hope I will have the strength to remember that what little I have is still enough to be thankful for as I push on for what's next. There is always something coming next, but there is also so much right here, right now. I hope you get to notice it all and run out of fingers to count those blessings on.