Counting Blessings

Since January, I have been reading Ann Voskamp’s book, One Thousand Gifts:A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.” Ann challenges us to live each day with our eyes open, counting the many blessings laid out before us. In doing so, we experience deep gratitude and a fullness in life. I have embarked on her dare, to count one thousand gifts in a year’s time.

Blessing #327

Today, the wind howls, and the temperatures have hovered in the 20’s. Snow still sits in our fields, and the sky and woods are nothing but gray. Today, I cling to the blessings that I counted over the weekend, while gathering sap from the buckets that hang on the maple trees lining the road. A call from the tree above me, revealed that the Robins had returned from their winter hiatus in warmer climates. A Robin sat high in the tree, calling two Robins hopping along the road in front of me. Blessing # 327-the Robins return.

Blessing #328

As I walked back toward the house, I found pale shoots poking through the cold, brown earth, reminding me that indeed, new life will soon come to our hilltop farm. The daffodils by our stone wall always pop up and bloom long before any others in our yard, as the stones warm the ground, melting the snow, and making way for the tender shoots to push through the ground. Blessing # 328-Daffodils, green and tender, poking through the hard earth.

Spring waits patiently for this winter blast of cold air to move on, while I number my blessings.