Blessings By The Week

Do we ever just stop and take a moment to think about how truly blessed we are?

That weekend we just spent at a gorgeous beach in Okinawa, Japan in January, basking in the warm sun for very little money since it was a military resort. I remembered that people pay good money to vacation at a beach, let alone a foreign beach that is loaded with amazing snorkeling and activities. Yet we drive 1.5 hours to an affordable staycation. Such a blessing.

That 3-year old that we are in the process of potty training and dealing with all the attitude and ALL THE PEE? She is a blessing, and each day she reminds us how lucky we are to call her ours.

The friend who always shows up, who always knows what to say when you tell her things have just been plain hard lately. We are blessed to have her in our lives.

The ability to go back to the states to celebrate the big and little moments of family time is a huge blessing.

All of these are blessings. And all of these things are so easy to forget since they are ever-present right now.

My aunt is a nutritionist. Once a few years ago while visiting me, we were talking about my son’s eating habits. She said to me, “Look at the week, Mere. How did he eat the whole week? Not just the one day that you couldn’t get him to finish his milk or he had a cookie before dinner.”

I have started to apply this to my entire life.

How did the week go? Not the day that I felt like I was such a failure because the whole family shed tears multiple times throughout the day or the days where I yell more than I praise. Instead, I focus on the week that I survived (some may say thrived) an unexpected TDY. Or the weekend that we got to celebrate our best friend’s baby shower for twins – now that was a huge blessing. These weeks were wins in my book. Yes, they did contain some losses (some BIG losses). But when I choose to focus on the big picture, I am choosing to count my blessings. 

What happens when we hit PCS season and our life is spun into another move with chaotic emotions and so many things on our “to-do list?” Or when our toddlers grow up and they are no longer our babies, but rather soccer playing, division homework doing little human beings? Our blessings may be harder to find but trust me when I say, they will be there.

It is a year of transition for us as we wait to find out where the military will send us next. It can be a hard year to find the blessings and even harder when the current duty station hasn’t been one of the easiest. What if the next one is worse? What if I leave and feel like I didn’t take advantage of all of my blessings that this island offered?

Find the weekly blessing, and your life will be so much more content.

Journal them, speak to them, or pray over them if that is your thing. The blessing that your husband walks through the door every night to take over after a long day of doing the whole stay-at-home-mom thing. Cherish the blessing that even if our spouse is gone, he can call us occasionally and that he is doing this for all the right reasons.

Some days, your blessing can be the fact that you simply woke up to start a new day. Other days, your blessings will be overflowing. Heck, laundry may even be on your list during days that are particularly hard.  But it is always about the big picture, not just a few hours where you feel like your life is spinning.

Blessings, whenever big or small, can put life into perspective.

Hold onto them; don’t forget them; remember that we are lucky ones, friends! Count your blessings this 2020 and I promise you, you will be amazed when you look back on the year.