Oh How Thankful I Am!
Let Me Count the Ways!
Life Is Good!
What am I thankful for? Let me count the ways! My entry in the Fall Season of Miracles shared a painful, heartbreaking and stressful time by telling the very personal story of my sister who was diagnosed with stage four cancer just over a year and a half ago. This has been a year of bad news, good news, bad news, good news and more bad news. It is a daily struggle to be thankful for the small things as my beautiful younger sister deals with this dreadful evil disease.
I have come to have a different outlook on learning to live in the moment and being thankful for all blessings, most especially the small ones.
I am working hard on developing a new attitude for being thankful! I have so many things to be thankful for - large and small daily miracles of joy and sharing, learning and growing. I don't want to take one day or one person for granted!
I am thankful for:
- My God who watches over and cares for me and will never leave me.
- My two beautiful caring daughters - awesome women, good mothers and fantastic daughters
- My four beautiful & handsome grandchildren who make me laugh, provide joy with their hugs & make me proud of them every day
- Two terrific son-in-laws, both of whom I love as much as if they were my sons - they ARE my sons.
- My dear close friends who provide support and laughter and are my partners in having fun.
- My health.
- My home where I am peaceful, safe and content.
- My country, still the best place in the world to live and enjoy freedom.
- My business, I love being a Realtor!
- My passion! Some people never feel much passion and I am blessed to be passionate about my family, friends, work....and life!
Then there are the more intangible things that occur every day in my life, things I may miss if not careful. I must pay attention and be thankful!
- Blue skies with white puffy clouds
- Flowers blooming in my yard
- The sound of birds singing
- Leaves changing colors
- Sitting on my private patio enjoying a gentle rain
- Gorgeous lake views
- Sunrises
- Sunsets
- Music
- A rare Texas "snow morning"
- Godiva chocolate :-)
I might have missed a majestic and spiritual moment because I was so intent on 
being able to stick to my work schedule for the day. This past January there was a thick snow that completely shut down traffic. I was house bound for a couple of days. The snow was gorgeous but it did change my plans for a couple of days. I had things I needed to do and I was frustrated at being house bound. Early the first morning I grabbed my camera and took this photo from my patio and wrote a blog post. I immediately grabbed a cup of hot coffee, turned on some gospel music and huddled under a blanket on my patio to enjoy a magical time. Thanks to God, He had a plan to slow me down and lead me to "tune in" on a great time alone on my patio in the cold freezing snow. It was actually warm high on my patio out of the wind and covered in a warm blanket. Oh how thankful I am that I did not miss those moments!
This past challenging year of my sister's illness has caused me to look for moments, small moments of pleasure and joy and passion. I want to spend more time with family and friends. I have always been dedicated to my business and that will not change. What will change is that I will try to eliminate the unimportant busy work out of my day and use that time to just enjoy the day, enjoy the moment, enjoy others and be thankful to my gracious and loving God.
D
o you know how brief a sunset is? Blink your eye and you can miss it. Sunsets are like life, you have to pay attention or your will miss it. I do not want to miss a miracle or blessing on any day, I want to reap the best of what the day has to offer and never feel that I wasted my time or that I failed to pay attention. Life is fleeting, time is precious and I now have a new challenge to be forever thankful for what I have and for what is to come.
I want to laugh every single day and perhaps cause someone else to laugh!
One more thing! I am thankful for ActiveRain! I joined ActiveRain to increase my business...the ONLY reason! I have done this! My unexpected ActiveRain blessings and pleasures are the awesome new friends I have made. I now have friends across this great nation and I enjoy, interact and learn from them daily! Thanks, ActiveRain friends!.
My prayer for myself this coming year is that I will always have a thankful heart and that I will live in the moment, sharing with others and laugh every day!
Life is good!
This post is a submission to the DocuSign/ActiveRain Thankful Contest. It's possible I will win a prize for writing this post. You could win a prize too by going to the Contest Announcement and sharing your own story"
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