After the first year, my notebook contained all of the obvious and slightly less obvious things, like family, home, cars, flush toilets, and fuzzy socks. Then I got creative. I learned to “hunt” during the day for gifts I could write down that evening, and my eyes began to notice even the littlest blessings which popped up; not only was I grateful for the chair on which my bottom rested, but the individual screws holding the chair together, the man who ran the machine which made the screws, and the person who first conceived the notion of screws.
Those times when life throws a challenge-pie in my face become far less wretched and much easier to navigate as I deliberately search for the benefits each struggle brings. Then, when I must watch my children wrestle their own trials, I empathize, support and encourage, with the slightest twinge of joy mixed with motherly heartache, because I know they are on the verge of a blessing shower.
“And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.” (Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 78:19)”
