Counting Blessings

I am woefully behind on posts, as you all might have noticed. I wrote one about revision letters since a few of us in the Gnomies have received them lately and decided there have been several very good posts about that without me adding my two cents. I will say one thing, if a writer is fortunate enough to receive one, count it as a major blessing.

Which leads me to the topic du jour.

Blessings.

I’m not sure the move to Oklahoma was a mistake, but given some other things that happened, I probably should have delayed it. As it is, it’s renewing my walk in faith and I am one of those people who likes to see a long ways down the road. Walking the hidden paths makes me nervous.

Will called yesterday and Logan was in a very playful, talkative mood. Logan got on the phone and said “Hi” several times as well as, “Hi, Mamah (grandma), Looove you, one two one two,” and several other things. It just made my heart sing to hear his happy little voice. The one two routine was while he was walking down some steps. He apparently counts to two every time he goes up or down stairs.

Today, Will called again after the computer disaster (I got a virus and thought the way to fix it was to do a system restore, yeah, wrong) while he was in WalMart. Logan was once again in a very happy mood. He was telling Daddy what kind of food he wanted. It was amazing to hear him tick off the names of the food so plainly I could understand him in the background.

Count one blessing.

My writing friends. As I said before, some of us have received revision letters recently. It’s a tw0-edged blessing. The agent thought enough of your work to send you suggestions to improve it and asked you to resubmit. However, sometimes you look at it and think, “I’m not sure I know what to do.”

That’s when your friends step in and start tossing out ideas and advice. Somewhere in the brainstorming sessions, some really good ideas pop up. Donna, for instance needed to add some more layers and tension. I was astounded at some of the ideas that others came up with. I even came up with something Donna liked. Yay me!

The Gnomes bounced some things around for FR and it eventually led me to some things I think will work. Yay them!

For a writer, I don’t think there can be a bigger blessing than to have a talented, supportive writing group. I can honestly say I fully expect most, if not all of these women to be published at some point and I’ve become pretty picky about my reading. The only reason they won’t get published is if they stop writing.

Count two blessings.

Right now, the trailer is kind of a disaster with stacks of boxes and totes everywhere. Slowing things down is the pain, which has become worse. Walking up and down stairs isn’t easy and I live in a trailer with several steps to the porch.

On the plus side, I’ve been unpacking things and re-sorting those which need to remain packed so they are more organized. I still think someday I will have another home and I will have a place for all my useless treasures that bring me joy. For whatever reason, I also think at some point, my belongings will go in storage. It’s good to get things properly organized now. Of course, I would be pretty ecstatic if I could find my camera, which I’m positive is gone forever, or the cords to my dvd/stereo system, so I had some kind of noise in this little tomb.

The quiet times, when we are forced to wait when we’d rather be plowing ahead with our lives are good for rearranging and reflecting.

Count three blessings.

I watched a woman last week who spent the entire morning bemoaning the fact her child won an award at school and the child was afraid others would resent her. I wondered what kind of example she was setting for her children that they couldn’t concentrate on the bright side of life.

Life is so short. It’s far too short to count the problems when you could be counting the blessings.

I wonder if this man counts his blessings or his problems?