A Year of Blessings

If you read my 2017 In Review post, then you know that this last year was the worst year of our lives.  As the end of 2017 approached, it was really easy to look back and only remember the bad things that had happened. Especially since there are several life altering and monumentally terrible moments.

At the end of 2016, a friend of mine had posted on his social media that he had done a thing. All year long he wrote down every good thing that happened in his life and collected them in a jar to be opened and read on new year's eve. I thought it was an awesome idea and decided to do it. (Thank you, Garrett!)

I didn't tell Shaun about this little project until just a few days before the end of 2017. We were both excited to get to the jar and be reminded of the positive things that had happened. We put the kids down for bed, lit a fire in the fireplace, turned on some calming background music, and pulled out the jar.

There were 13 pieces of paper. 13 beautiful things that happened. Reading over them suddenly made our year feel a little bit brighter. We reminisced, smiled, laughed, and teared up as we read them. Then a really amazing thing happened. As we reflected over and discussed those 13 things, more and more things started coming to our minds. I ran to collect more note cards, handed Shaun a pen, and before we knew it, 21 more things went into our jar!

34 beautiful blessings! Most of them are actually really big things that happened for us. In a year filled with heartbreaking loss, there are 34 really big blessings that we have to be grateful for. Shaun and I held hands and together we thanked the Lord that even in the hard, He was there blessing us with so much good. 

I'm so grateful for such a beautiful ending to our year. We really needed that! This is definitely our new tradition and I can't wait for the day that our children are old enough to understand, contribute, and reflect with us. 

2018, there's an empty jar ready and waiting to collect the blessings you bring!