List of Blessings

⁶ Surely you have granted him unending blessings    and made him glad with the joy of your presence. Psalm 21:6


It's been a week of beginnings.  School started.  I know a couple of little ones who started kindergarten this week.  Kevin stared his senior year at UNC-C (I am so proud =) ).  Daniel started the night shift as a police officer for the Charlotte light rail.  Richard is starting the night shift tomorrow at his Timken job (until he is reassigned for deployment in October/November).  I start teaching Sunday school for the preschoolers next week. 


It's been a wonderful summer, but it's time to get back into a live-a-day routine.  Routine is good for me.  As I get older, if it's not part of my routine, I will quite likely forget it!  Devotion writing has become a routine.  I have been doing it for about 12 years now.  I take breaks when vacation takes me away from an internet connection or I might miss a day here and there because I am running late or just can't think of a thing to write about.  And in the last couple of years I have decided to take Sundays off from writing.  But for the most part, I have written a devotion every day for over 12 years.  It is indeed a routine.


The book 1000 Gifts has inspired me to begin a new routine.  I have started a list of things I am thankful for.  I put it on an app on my Droid phone so I know I will have the list with me everywhere I go.  Each time I feel thankful for even the smallest thing, I add it to my list.  It is a numbered list and I have to wonder  what number I will be up to by the end of a week!


It has really helped me to focus on the positive things in life.  I am beginning to see more of what I have rather than what I want.  It is shrinking away that little "devil of greed" that lives in each one of us and whispers in our ear, "More!  You want more!"  I am actually beginning to be overcome with how much I have... not simply material things, but friends, family, freedoms, and free things like wildflowers and summer breezes.  


I hope my new routine continues for years as my devotions have.  I can only imagine that I will have a list of over 100,000 gifts or more as I continue.


Father,
Thank you.  For everything.  Amen.


Joys:  Numbering my blessings; A lazy Saturday morning; Going to get Cecelia a little later today